Neanderthals used stone hand axes to strike a light

Enlarge / Neanderthals used stone hand axes, or bifaces, like these, along with chunks of pyrite, to light fires. (credit: Johnbod via Wikimedia Commons)

We know Neanderthals used fire because we have burned animal bones from several archaeological sites along with evidence that Neanderthals collected manganese dioxide, a black mineral powder the helps lower the combustion temperature of wood. But archaeologists haven't been convinced that Neanderthals kindled the fires themselves.

It's been suggested that the first humans to use fire happened to make use of convenient natural fires, such as those sparked by lightning strikes, and only learned how to set things on fire themselves later. Without clear evidence of firestarting, there's no way to demonstrate that Neanderthal technology had progressed to that stage by the time the last of them died off.

"While it is generally assumed that modern humans were proficient fire-markers, some researchers doubt Neanderthals knew how to make fire despite evidence that they used fire regularly," wrote Leiden University archaeologist Andrew Sorensen and his colleagues in a new paper. "Only by identifying the tools used to make fire can we know if Neanderthals possessed this skill."

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