ISTANBUL

Researchers have discovered the earliest known evidence of controlled fire-making by ancient humans in Suffolk, England, dating back 400,000 years, London's Natural History Museum announced Wednesday.

The finding pushes back the timeline for controlled use of fire by humans by at least 360,000 years, museum officials said.

"It's an astounding discovery. This is a game-changer in the field," said Simon Parfitt, senior researcher in human evolution at the Natural History Museum and University College London.

Evidence found at the Barnham site consists of tiny 2-centimeter (about 0.8-inch) pyrite rock fragments alongside ancient hearths and heated flints, suggesting fire was intentionally created and maintained rather than started naturally by lightning.

"As soon as we saw the pyrite, we realized we had found something remarkable," Parfitt said. "Because pyrite doesn't occur naturally in that landscape, its presence shows they had the ability to make fire at will."

Striking flint against pyrite nodules creates sparks, indicating it was an essential part of a fire-making toolkit.

"The fact that there are the pyrites shows not just that they could maintain the fire, but they were making fire," said Silvia Bello, an expert on ancient human behavior at the Natural History Museum, emphasizing the significance of the revelation.

Researchers believe the fire-makers were likely early Neanderthals based on a contemporaneously dated skull found nearby.

"That skull is pretty certainly an early Neanderthal, so by inference the people at Barnham making these fires would have been early Neanderthals too," said Chris Stringer, an expert in human evolution at the museum.

Controlled fire allowed ancient humans to stay warm in colder regions, keep predators at bay, cook food for easier digestion, and expand their resource range. Fire also served as a focal point for socializing and knowledge transmission.

"Surely at times when people couldn't hunt, the fire was a good space to gather, interact with each other, and potentially learn and teach," Bello said.