Homo naledi may have lit fires in underground caves at least 236,000 years ago
Remnants of small fireplaces found in South African cave system, researchers announce
![a child's partial skull, belonging to Homo naledi, against a black backdrop. The area around the bridge of the nose and eyebrows is brown, while the rest of the skull is mostly white.](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/120122_bb_h.-naledi-fire-use_feat.jpg?fit=1030%2C580&ssl=1)
An ancient southern African hominid called Homo naledi, represented here by a child’s partial fossil skull, possibly used fire sometime between 335,000 and 236,000 years ago, new cave finds suggest.
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