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NEANDERTHALS NEWS

Some 400,000 years ago, in what is now eastern England, a group of Neanderthals used flint and pyrite to make fires by a watering hole — not just once, but time after time, over several generations. (Express Photo)

Archaeologists Find Oldest Evidence of Fire-Making

December 12, 2025 9:21 am

“A lot of people had a hunch that they were making fire at this date,” said Nick Ashton, an archaeologist at the British Museum and an author of the study. “But now we can convincingly say, ‘Yeah, this was the case.’

Until now, the earliest clear evidence of humans creating fire dates to roughly 50,000 years ago. The new findings push that technological milestone back by hundreds of millennia.(Image: Freepik)

Neanderthals were making fire as early as 400,000 years ago, says new study

December 12, 2025 9:21 am

Findings suggest Neanderthals mastered fire long before modern humans, challenging long-held assumptions.

a reconstructed Neanderthal skeleton, right, and a modern human skeleton on display

What makes your brain different from a Neanderthal’s?

September 12, 2022 3:22 pm

A "glitch" in our DNA that may have helped set the minds of our ancestors apart from those of Neanderthals and other extinct relatives.

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Digging Deep: Cave discovery in France stretches Homo sapiens' presence in Europe by 10,000 years

February 18, 2022 7:32 pm

The finding implies that the Neanderthals and Homo sapiens indeed shared the same space and time, albeit for just a few decades.

Prehistoric cave paintings in Spain show Neanderthals were artists

August 09, 2021 1:32 pm

Dating techniques showed that ochre had been spat by Neanderthals onto the stalagmites, possibly as part of a ritual.

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Prehistoric cave paintings in Spain show Neanderthals were artists

August 09, 2021 10:28 am

Wall paintings made by prehistoric modern humans, such as those found in the Chauvet-Pont d’Arc cave of France, are more than 30,000 years old

Just 7 per cent of our DNA is unique to modern humans, study shows

July 19, 2021 7:38 pm

The research draws upon DNA extracted from fossil remains of now-extinct Neanderthals and Denisovans, as well as from 279 modern people from around the world.

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Human evolution from Neanderthals seen as uneven, punctuated: Study

November 19, 2017 2:20 pm

Researchers have found Neanderthals survived at least 3,000 years longer in the Southern Iberia region, modern day Spain, long after they had died out everywhere else.