Evidence of hominin control of fire at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel.
The presence of burned seeds, wood, and flint at the Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov in Israel is suggestive of the control of fire by humans nearly 790,000 years ago. The distribution of the site's small burned flint fragments suggests that burning occurred in specific spots, possibly indicating hearth locations. Wood of six taxa was burned at the site, at least three of which are edible--live, wild barley, and wild grape.
Goren-Inbar
Naama
N
Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, Israel. goren@cc.huji.ac.il
Alperson
Nira
N
Kislev
Mordechai E
ME
Simchoni
Orit
O
Melamed
Yoel
Y
Ben-Nun
Adi
A
Werker
Ella
E
D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D002523:Edible Grain; D005390:Fires; D031661:Fraxinus; D005638:Fruit; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D015186:Hominidae; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D031658:Olea; D006109:Poaceae; D012639:Seeds; D014934:Wood