考古學家發現生火最古老的證據（1/2）

 Recently the New York Times reported the following:

 Archaeologists Find Oldest Evidence of Fire-Making (1/2)

Neanderthals 400,000 years ago were striking flints to make fires, researchers have found.

By Carl Zimmer

Dec. 10, 2025

Some 400,000 years ago, in what is now eastern England, a group of Neanderthals used flint and pyrite to make fires by a watering hole — not just once, but time after time, over several generations.

That is the conclusion of a study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. Previously, the oldest known evidence of humans making fires dated back just 50,000 years. The new finding indicates that this critical step in human history occurred much earlier.

“A lot of people had a hunch that they were making fire at this date,” said Nick Ashton, an archaeologist at the British Museum and an author of the study. “But now we can convincingly say, ‘Yeah, this was the case.’”

From Charles Darwin on, biologists have looked upon the mastery of fire as a hallmark in the evolution of our species. Early humans may have first used fire to cook their food. That advance let them improve their diet, by removing toxins from food and making it easier to absorb nutrients from their meals. Fires may have also kept them warm at night and kept predators at bay.

Later, they found new uses for fire. They cooked tree bark to create glue, which they used to anchor stone spear tips to wooden shafts. And starting about 10,000 years ago, humans began making fires to smelt copper and other metals, ushering in civilization.

As important as fire has been to our species, tracing its early history has proved an immense challenge. Rain can wash away ash and charcoal, erasing the evidence of a fire. Even when scientists do uncover the rare trace of an ancient blaze, it can be hard to determine whether it was created by people or ignited by lightning.

The oldest evidence for human ancestors using fire, dating back to between 1 million and 1.5 million years ago, comes from a cave in South Africa. Human ancestors left behind tens of thousands of fragments of bones from the animals they butchered to eat. Of those fragments, 270 show signs of having been burned in a fire.

But clues like these don’t offer clear proof that those ancient people knew how to make a fire. They may have just stumbled across a wildfire from time to time, and figured out ways to take advantage of it. They might have learned to light a stick from the fire, and then carry the ember back to their cave to cook a meal.

But that approach had its limits, Dr. Ashton noted. “You’re dependent on local lightning strikes,” he said. “It’s very unpredictable, and you can’t rely on it.”

A crucial step took place when early humans figured out how to make fires on demand, either by using rocks to create sparks or rubbing a piece of wood until the friction started a flame. “Once you can make fire, all those problems evaporate,” Dr. Ashton said.

Dr. Ashton and his colleagues caught their first glimpse of ancient fires in 2013, as they were digging at an archaeological site called Barnham in eastern England. For decades, researchers had found ancient tools and other signs of early humans there. In 2013, Dr. Ashton and his colleagues found something new: pieces of oddly broken flint.

Only an intense heat could have shattered the hard rocks. But Dr. Ashton and his colleagues couldn’t determine if the fire that broke the Barnham flints had been created by humans or lightning.

(to be continued)

Translation

考古學家發現生火最古老的證據（1/2）

研究人員發現，40萬年前的尼安德塔人就已經開始敲擊燧石生火。

大約40萬年前，在現今的英格蘭東部，一群尼安德特人使用燧石和黃鐵礦在水坑旁生火 - 而且不只一次，而是持續了好幾代。

這是周三發表在《自然》雜誌上的一項研究得出的結論。此前，已知人類生火的最古老證據只能追溯到5萬年前。這項新發現表明，人類歷史上的這一關鍵步驟發生得更早。

大英博物館考古學家、該研究的作者之一Nick Ashton說道:「很多人都曾猜測他們在那個時期就已經會生火了」;「但現在我們可以肯定地說，’沒錯，情況確實如此’」。

從達爾文開始，生物學家就將掌握火視為人類演化史上的一大標誌。早期人類可能最初用火來烹煮食物。這項進步使他們能夠改善飲食，去除食物中的毒素，並更容易吸收營養。火或許還能讓他們在夜間取暖，抵禦捕食者。

後來，他們發現了火的新用途。他們燒製樹皮製成膠水，用來將石矛尖固定在木桿上。大約一萬年前，人類開始用火冶煉銅和其他金屬，由此開啟了文明的篇章。

儘管火對我們人類來說至關重要，但追溯其早期歷史卻是一項巨大的挑戰。雨水會沖刷掉灰燼和木炭，抹去生火的痕跡。即使科學家發現了罕見的古代火災痕跡，也很難確定它是人為造成的還是雷擊引發的。

人類祖先使用火的最古老證據可以追溯到100萬至150萬年前，發現於南非的一個洞穴中。人類祖先留下了數萬塊他們宰殺食用動物的骨頭碎片。在這些碎片中，有270塊顯示出被火燒過的痕跡。

但諸如此類的線索並不能提供確鑿的證據證明古代人懂得如何生火。他們可能只是偶爾偶然遇到野火，並想辦法利用它。他們或許學會了用火點燃一根木棍，然後把餘燄未盡的木塊帶回洞穴煮食。

但Ashton博士指出，這種方法也有其限制。 他說:“你要依賴當地的雷擊”，“它是非常難以預測，你不能依靠它” 。

至關重要的一步出現是, 早期人類掌握了按需生火的方法，無論是用石頭產生火花，或是摩擦木頭直至開始產生火頭。 Ashton博士說: 「一旦學會生火，所有的問題都迎刃而解」。

2013年，Ashton博士和他的同事在英格蘭東部的Barnham考古遺址進行挖掘時，首次發現了古代火的痕跡。幾十年來，研究人員一直在那裡發現古代工具和其他早期人類活動的痕跡。 2013年，Ashton博士和他的同事有了新的發現：一些不尋地常破碎的燧石。

只有極高的溫度才能使這些堅硬的石碎開。但Ashton博士和他的同事無法確定， Barnham燧石的破碎是由人類活動還是閃電引起的。

（待續）