Neanderthals: Fire-Makers or Fire-Fakers?

Описание: For decades, we believed fire-making was a skill unique to modern humans. We were wrong.

A groundbreaking archaeological discovery at the Barnham site in Suffolk, England, has just pushed the timeline of human technology back by 350,000 years. New evidence suggests that Neanderthals weren’t just using fire opportunistically—they were engineering it.

Full Publication:
Davis, R., Hatch, M., Hoare, S. et al. Earliest evidence of making fire. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09...

In this deep dive, we explore the difference between "using" and "making" fire, analyze the mysterious iron pyrite found at the site, and discuss what this means for our understanding of Neanderthal intelligence. My hope with this episode is that you walk away feeling closer and better acquainted with our larger family.

TL/DR - In this video, we cover:
The massive new discovery at Barnham, England.
The critical difference between opportunistic fire use and fire technology.
Why Iron Pyrite is the "smoking gun" of this excavation.
How fire changed human culture, memory, and evolution.

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00:00 The History of Human Fire
00:32 The Barnham Discovery (Suffolk, England)
01:15 The Difference: Using Fire vs. Making Fire
02:14 Did Homo Erectus Use Fire? (Wonderwerk Cave)
04:19 Homo Heidelbergensis & The First Hearths
06:11 The Truth About Neanderthals (Not Dumb Cavemen)
08:32 The "Smoking Gun": Iron Pyrite Evidence
10:30 How Fire Changed Human Evolution Forever

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