For early humans living about 800,000 years ago, access to fire may have influenced where they chose to settle. New research shows that these ancient communities depended on an abundant and reliable source of fuel: driftwood that naturally accumulated along lake shores. It appears that rather than wasting time searching for special types of wood, he made practical use of materials that were readily available.
A constant supply of firewood probably helped them maintain fires for cooking and other daily activities. Researchers believe it may also explain why people across generations return to the same places again and again. The site offered much more than food and water. It also provided an easy way to keep a fire burning.
About 800,000 years ago, groups of early humans gathered along the shore of a large lake in what is now northern Israel. They hunted large animals, cooked fish using controlled fires, and organized many aspects of daily life around communal hearths. Even small pieces of coal left from those fires may reveal important details about how these people interacted with their environment, according to a new study.
published in quaternary science reviewsThe study reconstructs life at the Acheulean archaeological site of Gesher Benot Yaakov (GBY). An international team of researchers from Israel, Spain and Germany examined an unusually rich collection of ancient charcoal preserved at the site. Prof. in the team Naama Goren-Inbar (Hebrew University), Prof. Nira Alperson-Afil and Dr. Yoel Melamed (Bar-Ilan University), Prof. Ethel Allué (Universitat Rovira i Virgili and Institut Català de Palaeocologia), and Prof. Brigitte Urban (University of Leuphana) was involved. Their findings provide new information about how early hominins gathered fuel and managed fire, suggesting a level of environmental awareness and more advanced planning than previously recognized.
Rare charcoal provides a window into the past
Charcoal rarely survives at archaeological sites so old. As a result, the large collection recovered from GBY provides an exceptionally rare opportunity to study the everyday behavior of some of the earliest known fire users.
While many prehistoric sites have only limited or uncertain evidence of burning, the GBY preserves a detailed record showing the repeated use of fire over thousands of years.
The site contains more than 20 archaeological layers that document repeated occupation of the paleo-Hula lake shore. Professor of Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Excavations directed by Naama Goren-Inbar have revealed a busy landscape where Acheulean hunters returned from generation to generation. Researchers have uncovered stone tools made of flint, limestone and basalt, the remains of hunted animals, and numerous plant foods collected from the lake shore, including fruits, nuts, and seeds.
One particularly notable layer collects evidence of a major hunting event. Along with stone tools and plant remains, researchers found the skull and bones of a straight-tusked elephant. The arrangement of the remains indicate that the animal was slaughtered and processed at the site.
Fire played a central role in this ancient community. For the first time in GBY, Prof. of Bar-Ilan University. Identified by Nira Alperson-Afel, the evidence suggests that fire was used regularly rather than occasionally. Hearths served as focal points for activities such as food preparation, tool making, and social interaction.
Ancient firewood reveals landscape
The new research focuses on an occupation layer dating back to about 780,000 years ago. Scientists examined 266 pieces of charcoal under the microscope, identifying the internal structure of the wood to determine which plant species was burned.
Analysis revealed a surprisingly wide range of species, including ash, willow, grape, oleander, olive, oak, pistachio and pomegranate. In particular, pomegranate charcoal represents the earliest known evidence of this fruit tree in the Levant.
The researchers were surprised to find that the coal contained greater plant diversity than other botanical remains recovered from the site, including seeds, fruits and unburned wood. This suggests that gathering firewood provides a broader sample of the surrounding environment than other plant gathering activities.
Together, the identified species help to reconstruct ancient landscapes. The region appears to contain both wet lakeshore habitats and open Mediterranean woodland. More importantly, coal reveals how early humans used those environments.
Driftwood may have provided energy for daily life
Evidence suggests that the site’s inhabitants were not carefully selecting specific tree species for fuel. Instead, they appear to have depended largely on wood that naturally accumulates along the shoreline.
Branches and wood carried by the water would have gathered near the lake shore, providing an easily accessible supply of firewood. The composition of the coal closely matches the type of wood expected in that environment, supporting the idea that people simply gathered what nature provided.
This discovery points to a huge possibility. Access to fuel may have influenced the locations where these communities chose to live. The lakeshore provided a reliable source of fresh water, edible plants, animals for hunting, raw materials for tools, and the firewood needed to maintain fires.
Evidence of fish cooking and advanced fire use
The study also sheds light on how fire was used. The researchers found that areas with large amounts of charcoal often overlapped with concentrations of fish remains, especially teeth typical of large carp.
This pattern provides additional evidence that fish were being cooked using controlled fire at this site about 800,000 years ago.
The findings strengthen the view that GBY hominins had sophisticated cognitive abilities. They were able to manage fires, organize activities around hearths, and incorporate fire into broader survival strategies.
Interestingly, studies show that gathering fuel requires less planning than activities like hunting large animals or making stone tools. Rather than seeking out specific woods, people appear to have taken advantage of whatever fuel was readily available.
Overall, the evidence portrays a highly capable community that understood its surroundings and repeatedly returned to a location that supplied the resources necessary for long-term survival.
The charcoal assemblage of GBY provides an exceptional dataset for exploring the relationships between fire use, environmental conditions, and hominin behavior. The findings refine scientific understanding of early fire use and shed light on how local resources may have shaped patterns of settlement and survival during the Middle Pleistocene.