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Humans Were Using Fire Long Before Scientists Thought Possible, Study Says (gizmodo.com)

submitted 4 weeks ago by Midnight@slrpnk.net to c/archaeology@mander.xyz

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[-] Zachariah@lemmy.world 16 points 4 weeks ago

Now a sprawling international team of archaeologists, paleontologists, geologists, and others say that they have documented compelling evidence that our ancestors’ first known use of fire dates back 700,000 years earlier than prior estimates. Employing a new luminescence technique to date burnt bone fossils, the researchers estimate that ancient hominids inhabiting the cave were likely fueling their fires with animal droppings as far back as 1.07 to 1.79 million years ago.

[-] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 15 points 4 weeks ago

Shit has been on fire for awhile it seems.

[-] Zachariah@lemmy.world 6 points 4 weeks ago

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

[-] finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world 6 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Theg: "Man, the animals have been dropping turds like nobody's business today! What do we do with it all?"

Gok: "Burn that shit!"

[-] Einskjaldi@lemmy.world 4 points 4 weeks ago

Keeping a fire going is much easier than starting one

[-] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 3 weeks ago

does poo burn particularly well?

[-] Zachariah@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_dung_fuel

this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2026

125 points (98.4% liked)

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Archaeology or archeology[a] is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes.

Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time.

The discipline involves surveying, excavation, and eventually analysis of data collected, to learn more about the past. In broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Read more...

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