title: On the evidence for human use and control of fire at Schöningen.
abstract: When and how humans began to control fire has been a central debate in Paleolithic archaeology for decades. Fire plays an important role in technology, social organization, subsistence, and manipulation of the environment and is widely seen as a necessary adaptation for the colonization of northern latitudes. Many researchers view purported hearths, burnt wooden implements, and heated flints from Schöningen as providing the best evidence for the control of fire in the Lower Paleolithic of Northern Europe. Here we present results of a multianalytical study of the purported hearths along with a critical examination of other possible evidence of human use or control of fire at Schöningen. We conclude that the analyzed features and artifacts present no convincing evidence for human use or control of fire. Our study also shows that a multianalytical, micro-contextual approach is the best methodology for evaluating claims of early evidence of human-controlled fire. We advise caution with macroscopic, qualitative identification of combustion features, burnt flint, and burnt wood without the application of such techniques as micromorphology, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, organic petrology, luminescence, and analysis of mineral magnetic parameters. The lack of evidence for the human control of fire at Schöningen raises the possibility that fire control was not a necessary adaptation for the human settlement of northern latitudes in the Lower Paleolithic.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address: mareike.stahlschmidt@ucd.ie.
authors.forename: Mareike C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Stahlschmidt
authors.affiliation: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoecology, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christopher E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Laboratories for Applied Organic Petrology (LAOP), Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Bertrand
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ligouis
authors.affiliation: BayCEER & Lehrstuhl für Geomorphologie, Universität Bayreuth, Universit€atsstraße 30, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Hambach
authors.affiliation: Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Berna
authors.affiliation: BayCEER & Lehrstuhl für Geomorphologie, Universität Bayreuth, Universit€atsstraße 30, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany; Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Richter
authors.affiliation: Leuphana University Lüneburg, 21335 Lüneburg, Germany; Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Institute for Pre- and Protohistory and Archaeology of the Middle Ages, University of Tübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Urban
authors.affiliation: Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Serangeli
authors.affiliation: Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoecology, University of Tübingen, Schloss Hohentübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Nicholas J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Conard
mesh_terms: D001106:Archaeology; D005390:Fires; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D014934:Wood
keywords: Early fire; Human behavior; Micromorphology; Northern latitudes; Paleolithic archaeology