Humanity’s love-hate relationship with fire

Archaeology correspondent David Keys explores a hot story that could be almost two million years old

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The remarkable archaeological investigation in a remote cave in South Africa has finally proved that early humans were using fire at least 900,000 years ago. The discovery adds crucial new information to the fascinating story of humanity’s love-hate relationship with that mesmerizing ancient element.

But it’s a story that is still full of unsolved mysteries.

Some scholars suspect that early humans discovered how to capture and use fire around 1.8 million years ago – but archaeological proof has not yet been found.