News Anthropology

Homo naledi may have lit fires in underground caves at least 236,000 years ago

Remnants of small fireplaces found in South African cave system, researchers announce

a child's partial skull, belonging to Homo naledi, against a black backdrop. The area around the bridge of the nose and eyebrows is brown, while the rest of the skull is mostly white.

An ancient southern African hominid called Homo naledi, represented here by a child’s partial fossil skull, possibly used fire sometime between 335,000 and 236,000 years ago, new cave finds suggest.

WIKUS DE WET/Contributor/Getty

By Bruce Bower

- More than 2 years ago

Updated

An ancient hominid dubbed Homo naledi may have lit controlled fires in the pitch-dark chambers of an underground cave system, new discoveries hint.