The earliest known evidence of humans making fire was found in Britain.

Groundbreaking research has revealed the oldest known evidence of human fire-making in Britain, dating back more than 400,000 years.

The discovery, in a disused clay pit near Barnham, SuffolkThis pushes the timeline back 350,000 years from the previous record of 50,000 years ago in northern France.

The fire yielded broken flint hand axes and hot sediments from the Barnham site between Thetford and Bury St Edmunds.

Importantly, two pieces of iron pyrite – a spark-inducing mineral – were also found.

Geological studies confirm the local rarity of pyrite, suggesting deliberate transport for fire production.

It took four years for a team led by researchers British MuseumTo demonstrate that hot soils were not caused by wildfires.

Geochemical tests revealed repeated use of fire in the same location, which is more typical of human use than wildfire.

The study’s authors say the controlled use of fire had a “profound impact on human evolution”, enhancing survival in harsh environments through warmth and protection from predators.

Other benefits include increased cooking – expanding the range of foods that can be safely eaten – and the creation of illuminated spaces that become focal points of social interaction.

Dr Rob Davies, Project Curator: Pathways to Ancient Britain at the British Museum, said the hearth area was about “half a meter in diameter, a kind of (a) small campfire”.

Professor Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum said it was believed the fires at Barnham were started by early Neanderthal people, but their identity was not directly known.

He noted that “around this time the brain size was increasing to its present level”.

“There’s no doubt that our brains are energetically expensive,” Professor Stringer said.

“They use about 20 percent of our body’s energy, so using fire, having the ability to make fire, will help release nutrition from food that will help fuel the brain, help it run and actually allow for the growth of a larger brain.”

He added: “Yes, there is probably a gap of 350,000 (years) until the next best evidence, but certainly we are not saying that fire was not used before.

“And of course we’re not saying that fire was invented … in Barnham.

“We believe that the people who set fire to Barnham brought knowledge with them from continental Europe.

“There was a land bridge there.

“There was a major cold period around 450,000 years ago, which probably wiped out everyone in Britain and then Britain had to be repopulated.”

He said the use of fire would help people “travel to places where winters are going to be colder”.

“The use of fire and the ability to make it, having that insurance if you want, against bad times, when you have fire you can stay warm, you can keep wild animals away, you get more nutrition from your food.

“I think all of these things are adding up to a feedback loop where the brain is going to get bigger, people are going to be sitting around the fire sharing information, spending extra time beyond pure daylight to make things, teach things, communicate with each other, tell stories.

“It may also have promoted the development of language.

“I think having this information that this was 400,000 years ago really means we’ve found an important aspect, an important aspect in human evolution.”

Professor Nick Ashton, curator of palaeontological collections at the British Museum, said it was “the most exciting discovery of my 40-year career”.

The paper, Earliest Evidence of Making Fire, is published in the journal Ann