Cited by 687Pleistocene-Era Hominins and ArchaeologyArchaeology and ancient environmental studiesArchaeological and Geological Studies

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On the earliest evidence for habitual use of fire in Europe

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Roebroeks, Wil, Villa, Paola·2011·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI 10.1073/pnas.1018116108PMC PMC3069174

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Abstract

The timing of the human control of fire is a hotly debated issue, with claims for regular fire use by early hominins in Africa at ∼1.6 million y ago. These claims are not uncontested, but most archaeologists would agree that the colonization of areas outside Africa, especially of regions such as Europe where temperatures at time dropped below freezing, was indeed tied to the use of fire. Our review of the European evidence suggests that early hominins moved into northern latitudes without the habitual use of fire. It was only much later, from ∼300,000 to 400,000 y ago onward, that fire became a significant part of the hominin technological repertoire. It is also from the second half of the Middle Pleistocene onward that we can observe spectacular cases of Neandertal pyrotechnological knowledge in the production of hafting materials. The increase in the number of sites with good evidence of fire throughout the Late Pleistocene shows that European Neandertals had fire management not unlike that documented for Upper Paleolithic groups.

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“The Middle Paleolithic16 Neanderthals had the ability to make, conserve, and transport fires during successive occupations or at different sites (Roebroeks and Villa, 2011, 5209–5211).”
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History and Development of the Anthropocene as a Stratigraphic Concept
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Human Evolution as a Theoretical Model for an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis
Arsdale, A. P. V. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-69123-7_6 · Cited by 3
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Twomey, T. (2013) · Biology & Philosophy · doi:10.1007/s10539-013-9402-2 · Cited by 44
“Exactly when controlled fire use emerged from opportunistic use is debated (Roebroeks and Villa 2011).”
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d’Errico, F., Colagè, I., Straffon, L. M., & Bender, A. (2026) · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute · doi:10.1111/1467-9655.70189 · Cited by 1
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“Archaeological evidence suggests that hominids began using fire at least 400,000 years ago, with possible earlier use extending to 1.5 million years ago (Roebroeks and Villa 2011).”
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Absolute chronology of the Early Palaeolithic Karatau Culture in Central Asia
Sørensen, A. L., Anoikin, A. A., Колобова, К. А., Khudjageldiev, T. U., Sosin, P. M., Taratunina, N. A., Kulakova, E. P., Tokareva, O. А., Meshcheryakova, O., Chirakkal, A., et al. (2026) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74938-5 · Cited by 2
“1), Wonder-werk, South Africa by 1 Ma 56 , and habitual use of ﬁ re in European contexts associated with Neanderthals between 400 and 300 ka 57 .”
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Schoenemann, P. T., Holloway, R. L., Gao, J., & Yang, G. (2026) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2426638123 · Cited by 1
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“Level VIII of Cova Negra is signi ﬁ cant due to the presence of several combustion areas from a period with limited records of the use of ﬁ re (Roebroeks and Villa 2011).”
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“47,48 However, the hypothesis that controlled ﬁres became prevalent upon the arrival of modern humans in Europe, particularly in the Mediterranean, is highly plausible.”
Conservar aprovechando: oportunidades y retos del siglo XXI
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Straus, L. (2022) · Journal of Anthropological Research · doi:10.1086/719327 · Cited by 1
“Given the rare evidence offire use before the end of the Middle Pleistocene (Roebroeks and Villa 2011), it is plausible to depict the settlement of the northern latitudes of China as episodic (only during interstadials) and seasonal - during the warm months of the year (Dennell 2013).”
Background
Traces of fire in a 560,000-year-old occupation soil at Caune de l’Arago: response to the article by Professor Henry de Lumley
Deldicque, D., Pozzi, J., Perrenoud, C., Falguères, C., Mahieux, G., Lartigot-Campin, A., & Rouzaud, J. (2022) · Comptes rendus Geoscience · doi:10.5802/crgeos.114 · Cited by 1
Approche expérimentale et fonctionnelle de la production du feu avec un sulfure de fer au Paléolithique supérieur ancien : exploration tracéologique de l’industrie lithique de l’archéoséquence du Flageolet I (Bézenac, Dordogne, France). Perspe
Morala, T. (2021) · Paleo · doi:10.4000/paleo.6352 · Cited by 1
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Spear study misses the point: a critique of the Ennos and Chan fire-hardening study, concerning wood material representation in archaeological finds and generalized conclusions
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“Why then do E&C suggest that it may have ‘broken off because it had been fire-hardened’ when this is out of step with the facts? It could be that fire use was not even widespread at the time of their manufacture [15].”
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Thermal alterations in experimentally-flaked stone tools from Olduvai Gorge and their relevance for identification of fire in the Early Stone Age
Withnell, C., & de la Torre, I. (2019) · Journal of Archaeological Science Reports · doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101978
Shifts Along a Spectrum: A Longitudinal Study of the Western Eurasian Realized Climate Niche
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Evolution of hominin detoxification: Neanderthal and modern human AHR respond similarly to TCDD
Aarts, J., Alink, G., Franssen, H., & Roebroeks, W. (2018) · doi:10.1101/445239 · Cited by 1
Self-citation
Wood from Forests: Trees and Production Schemes
Köhl, M. (2018) · Biomass · doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-7813-7_987 · Cited by 1
Humans preserve non-human primate pattern of adaptation to climate
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“Furthermore, despite continuing debate, it seems likely that control of fire was not mastered in Europe until the middle Pleistocene, at about 4e300 ka (Roebroeks et al., 2011).”
The Prehistory of Banat
Bánffy, E. (2013) · European Journal of Archaeology · doi:10.1179/146195713x13636880040798 · Cited by 1
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“Fire also allowed an extension of human daily activity into the night (Wiessner, 2014) and the colonization of much colder ecosystems (Roebroeks and Villa, 2011).”
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“…package’, which included a wider suite of technological practices, such as fire use (Mania 1995; Gowlett et al. 2005; Molines et al. 2005; Preece et al. 2006; Roebroeks and Villa 2011), hunting with spears (Warren 1911; Thieme 1997; Schoch et al. 2015) and the use of hides (Voormolen 2008).”
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Formation processes and geochronology of San Bernardino cave, a Middle Pleistocene neanderthal site from the south-eastern Alp foothills (NE Italy)
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The Use of Space in Neanderthal Campsites: Evidence from Spatial and Taphonomic Analyses of Charcoal Remains from Level Ra of Abric Romaní (Barcelona, Spain)
Fernández-Iriarte, T., Mas, B., Chacón, M. G., Saladié, P., Vallverdú, J., & Allué, E. (2026) · Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology · doi:10.1007/s41982-026-00277-y
“Although the use of fire is probable older than the emergence of Neanderthals (Karkanas et al., 2007 ; Roebroeks & Villa, 2011 ), the establishment of domestic spaces and their evolution is directly related to the evolution of modern human behaviour, affecting both Homo sapiens and Homo…”
Fire as spatial organizer: reconstructing the ritual grammar of a late Longshan ceremonial landscape at Yuhuicun, China
Bai, R. (2026) · World Archaeology · doi:10.1080/00438243.2026.2697162
Mechanistic quantification of the effects of genes, environment, and development on human behaviourPreprint
González-Forero, M., & Gómez‐Robles, A. (2025) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2025.03.17.643651 · Cited by 2

Authors: Roebroeks, W., & Villa, P.
Affiliations: Leiden University (NL)
University of the Witwatersrand (ZA)
ORCID: Roebroeks, Wil
Villa, Paola
Venue: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher: National Academy of Sciences
Published: 2011-03-14
Volume: 108
Issue: 13
Pages: 5209-5214
ISSN: 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
1091-6490
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1018116108
PMC: PMC3069174
OpenAlex: W2165291892
Cited by: 687
References: 80
Citations by year: 2026: 19 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 62 · 2021: 56 · 2020: 67 · 2019: 49 · 2018: 76 · 2017: 52 · 2016: 59 · 2015: 40 · 2014: 28 · 2013: 31 · 2012: 24
FWCI: 144.72
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: green
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Locations: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Anthropology › Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
Social Sciences › Archeology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology (arts and humanities) › Archaeological and Geological Studies
Keywords: fire use, Neanderthals, Middle Pleistocene, Late Pleistocene, fire management, hafting, Upper Palaeolithic, northern latitudes, European prehistory
MeSH terms: Animals, Emigration and Immigration, Europe, Biological Evolution, Fires, Fossils, Humans, Technology, Hominidae

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On the earliest evidence for habitual use of fire in Europe

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