Wonderwerk Cave fire 1.79 million years: Researchers report new laboratory tests that detect repeated traces of burning deep inside South Africa’s Wonderwerk Cave. The claim, described in a Hebrew University of Jerusalem press release (June 24) and detailed in a paper published in PLOS One, is presented by the authors as a preliminary interpretation that requires broader peer review and independent replication.
What researchers found: Wonderwerk Cave fire 1.79 million years
The research team reports burned animal bones and other thermal indicators recovered nearly 100 feet (about 30 meters) from the cave entrance, in deposits the authors attribute to about 1.79 million years ago. The Hebrew University press release dated June 24 highlights the depth of the deposits as a key piece of the interpretation.
The authors argue the pattern of thermal alteration is inconsistent with a single, short-lived event and instead suggests repeated episodes of burning inside the cave. They explicitly describe this conclusion as tentative: the dating and the interpretation remain subject to wider peer evaluation and further testing.
How the new technique identified ancient burning
The PLOS One paper applies a laboratory method designed to detect subtle microscopic and chemical signatures of thermal alteration in fossil bone that earlier approaches may miss. The technique targets changes produced by low-intensity or intermittent heating that can be invisible to coarser visual inspection.
Liora Kolska Horwitz of the National Natural History Collections at the Hebrew University, a co-director of the Wonderwerk project, is quoted in the university’s June 24 statement noting that traces of ancient fires are often “subtle and difficult to detect.” The paper frames the method as a new tool that can pick up faint signals but also describes analytical limits that need independent replication.
How this changes the timeline of fire use
This 1.79-million-year interpretation differs from a 2012 report from Wonderwerk that placed evidence of fire at roughly 1 million years ago and follows a 2025 report from Barnham, England, that researchers said pushed clear evidence for controlled fire use back to about 400,000 years. Those comparisons illustrate how different methods and fresh analyses can revise timelines for early hominin behavior.
The authors present their results as part of an evolving scientific discussion rather than a definitive reset of the field. They caution that shifting analytical techniques make direct comparisons across older studies complex and that consensus requires multiple independent lines of evidence.
What the evidence suggests about behavior at the site
Alongside burned bones, the team reports remains they interpret as small, combustible material — possibly including compacted organic pellets — that could have served as fuel. The authors describe this interpretation as tentative: the remains are “interpreted as” potential pellet-like fuel and the proposal that hominins collected and maintained low-intensity fires is framed as a plausible behavior rather than established fact.
If sustained by further work, the pattern would be consistent with hominins transporting, sustaining or repeatedly rekindling fire inside the cave, which could provide light, warmth, insect deterrence and help with food processing. The researchers emphasize, however, that collecting naturally occurring fire and keeping it lit is not the same as demonstrating routine on-demand fire production.
Limits, peer review and next steps
The findings are reported in a Hebrew University of Jerusalem press release (June 24) and a PLOS One paper. The research team and the press materials note that the interpretation is preliminary and explicitly call for broader peer review, independent laboratory replication, expanded sampling and detailed stratigraphic work.
Key methodological caveats include the challenge of differentiating true thermal alteration from rare post-depositional chemical or mineral changes in very old sediments, and the risk that subtle signals can be misread without corroborating lines of evidence. The authors recommend multiple independent tests on additional samples and comparisons with materials from nearby sites to assess whether similar thermal signatures appear regionally.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers for comment; the university and the paper are the primary sources for the claim. Planned next steps described by the team include applying the technique to more layers within Wonderwerk, seeking independent lab confirmation, and testing equivalent materials at other local sites to evaluate how widespread the signals are.
FAQ
How certain is the 1.79 million year date for the Wonderwerk fire evidence?
The date is based on stratigraphic context and associated dating reported by the authors. The team presents the 1.79-million-year interpretation as significant but preliminary — certainty will increase only with independent replication, additional samples and wider peer review.
What does the new technique detect that earlier methods missed?
The PLOS One technique targets microscopic and chemical markers of low-temperature or intermittent heating in fossil bone that can be invisible to older, coarser analyses. The method can reveal faint thermal alteration signatures, though interpretation requires careful cross-checking.
Does this mean early humans invented fire at Wonderwerk Cave?
Not necessarily. The authors stress their evidence is consistent with hominins collecting and maintaining natural fires (for example, from lightning strikes) or transporting ember material into the cave. That differs from demonstrating that hominins at Wonderwerk routinely produced fire on demand.
Source attribution
Primary sources for this report are the Hebrew University of Jerusalem press release (announced June 24) and a paper published in PLOS One; the findings were also summarized in a Fox News article that linked to the release and the paper. Readers should treat the 1.79-million-year interpretation as part of an active scientific discussion until independent groups replicate the analyses.
Source: Fox News – Cave discovery pushes back evidence of human ancestors using fire to 1.79M years ago. Original announcement: Hebrew University of Jerusalem press release (June 24); full study: PLOS One (paper referenced in release).
