50,000-Year-Old Evidence of Widespread Human Fire Use

New research reveals humans began extensively using fire approximately 50,000 years ago, much earlier than previously thought. Analysis of a 300,000-year-old sediment core from the East China Sea uncovered a significant increase in pyrogenic carbon, indicating a dramatic rise in fire activity. This finding aligns with similar discoveries in Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Papua New Guinea-Australia region, suggesting a global intensification of human fire use around this time. Researchers attribute this to the spread of Homo sapiens, increased population densities, and greater reliance on fire, particularly during glacial periods. This widespread fire use significantly impacted ecosystems and the carbon cycle, potentially underestimating the historical baseline of human-environment interactions in current climate models.