When was the first use of fire? Researchers respond with the help of artificial intelligence

It is not always easy for scientists to understand the evidence for fire in antiquity.

Pieces of coal, cracked bones, discolored rocks often suggest that there was a fire, however, as is logical, after hundreds of thousands of years it is not usual to leave findings for study.

Nevertheless, experts in Israel using artificial intelligence are able to identify the most ancient use of fire by mankind.

A team from the Weizmann Science Institute analyzed invisible “molecular signals” on flint tools unearthed at an archeological site in western Galilee.

They found evidence that the first humans 800,000 years ago used fire.

Their findings are published in the scientific journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences). There is already some evidence for the ancient use of fire, but the oldest known examples date back only 500,000 years.

AI reveals evidence of early uses of fire

Hidden signatures of early fire at Evron Quarry (1.0 to 0.8 Mya) https://t.co/JlBt2yme4W

Research highlights the possibility of extracting “hidden” information on pyrotechnology-related activities from other sites. pic.twitter.com/6wV7h7oA1o

– MU-Peter Shimon 🀄 (@MU_Peter) June 14, 2022

Controlled use of fire is a key indicator of human development, but optical elements such as ash and coal deteriorate over time, so the research team turned to artificial intelligence and spectroscopy to detect non-visual evidence.

“These elements of fire are from a very early period in human development and suggest that a million years ago human involvement with fire may have been more common than previously thought,” said Michael Schazan, a professor of anthropology at U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science and co-author of the study.

“In addition, this method allows us to detect traces of fire where they were not visible before,” he adds.

The team tried to confirm its research hypotheses by studying evidence from the archeological site of the Evron quarry, a site first discovered in the 1970s and estimated to be one of the oldest known human settlements in Israel.

During a series of excavations that took place at that time, archaeologists excavated 14 meters and unearthed a large series of animal fossils and Paleolithic tools dating back between 800,000 and one million years old, making it one of the oldest sites in Israel.

During a series of excavations that took place at that time, archaeologists excavated to a depth of 14 meters and uncovered a large series of animal fossils and Paleolithic tools dating back between 800,000 and one million years,

Initially, none of the site findings had any visual indications of heat.

Today, however, based on previous successes in the application of artificial intelligence and spectroscopy in archeology, the team has developed advanced computational models to study the synthesis of materials down to chemical and molecular structures and to better understand if they had undergone structural change, such as that produced by fire.

“The advantage of artificial intelligence is that it can find hidden patterns on many scales,” says Azuri, who led the development of the models. “By locating the chemical composition of the materials down to the molecular level, the output of the model can calculate the temperature at which the stone tools were heated, ultimately informing us of previous human behaviors.”

There is still no clear conclusion to say conclusively that the tools and findings at this point were burned in a fire caused by man, however, the researchers conclude.

Researchers uncover evidence of fire at a 1-million-year-old archaeological site at Evron Quarry in Israel. In PNAS: https://t.co/9vA4VfxIXl pic.twitter.com/eg0514Y0JS

– PNASNews (@PNASNews) June 16, 2022