Stone Age ‘fireplace’ unearthed in Israel

A team of Israeli archaeologists have uncovered the site of a large hearth dating to around 300,000 years ago, The Daily Mail reported.

The discovery of repeated fire building over a continuous period was made in Qesem Cave, an archaeological site near present-day Rosh Ha'ayin in Israel.

Historians have long questioned when humans began to control fire in order to use heat to suit their daily needs and this find hints that prehistoric humans already had a highly advanced social structures and intellectual capacity.
 

Excavations in Qesem Cave have been ongoing since 2000 and have been headed up by Professor Avi Gopher and Ran Barkai of Tel Aviv University.

Dr Ruth Shahack-Gross of the Kimmel Centre for Archeological Science at the Weizmann Institute, Israel, collected samples from the site and analysed them in the lab.

She identified a thick deposit of wood ash in the centre of the cave and used infrared spectroscopy to find that in the ash were specks of bone and soil that had been heated to very high temperatures – ‘conclusive proof’ of a hearth.



Dr Shahack-Gross and her colleagues tested the micro-morphology of the ash by extracting a ‘cubic chunk’ of sediment from the hearth before hardening it in the lab.

They then cut it into thin slices and examined them under a microscope to determine the exact composition of the materials to reveal how they were formed.

In and around the hearth area the archaeologists also found large numbers of flint tools that they are sure were used for cutting meat, it was reported in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
 

They reportedly believe that differently-shaped flint tools found just a few metres away were used for other activities.

The site also contained large numbers of burnt animal bones, which the experts think is further evidence that cave men used fires to cook meat.

Dr Shahack-Gross and her colleagues said that their findings build upon other evidence that suggests the organisation of various ‘household’ activities into different parts of the cave, points to an organisation of space and a kind of social order that is typical of modern humans.

They think the cave served as a kind of ‘base camp’ that prehistoric humans returned to again and again.

Dr Shahack-Gross said: “These findings help us to fix an important turning point in the development of human culture – that in which humans first began to regularly use fire both for cooking meat and as a focal point – a sort of campfire for social gatherings.”

“They also tell us something about the impressive levels of social and cognitive development of humans living some 300,000 years ago.”

The researchers think that these findings are signs of substantial changes in human behaviour and biology that began with the appearance of new forms of culture and a new human species in the region some 400,000 years ago.