Microstratigraphic evidence of in situ fire in the Acheulean strata of Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape province, South Africa

Authors

Francesco Berna, Boston University
Paul Goldberg, Boston UniversityFollow
Liora Kolska Horwitz, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
James Brink, National Museum, South Africa
Sharon Holt, National Museum, South Africa
Marion K. Bamford, University of the Witwatersrand
Michael Chazan, University of Toronto

RIS ID

102485

Publication Details

Berna, F., Goldberg, P., Horwitz, L., Brink, J., Holt, S., Bamford, M. & Chazan, M. (2012). Microstratigraphic evidence of in situ fire in the Acheulean strata of Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape province, South Africa. National Academy of Sciences. Proceedings, 109 (20), E1215-E1220.

Abstract

The ability to control fire was a crucial turning point in human evolution, but the question when hominins first developed this ability still remains. Here we show that micromorphological and Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy (mFTIR) analyses of intact sediments at the site of Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape province, South Africa, provide unambiguous evidence-in the form of burned bone and ashed plant remains-that burning took place in the cave during the early Acheulean occupation, approximately 1.0 Ma. To the best of our knowledge, this is the earliest secure evidence for burning in an archaeological context.