A team of researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot has used artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools to identity the use of fire by ancient hominins at least 800,000 years ago.
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Controlled use of fire has been hypothesized to date back 1 million years or more, but it has been difficult to prove that hypothesis because archaeology has traditionally relied on visual evidence of physical changes caused by fire. These methods have managed to confirm human ancestors used fired 200,000 years ago. Only some five archaeological sites in the world bear evidence of use of fire as far back as 500,000 years ago.
However, Dr. Filipe Natalio of the Plant and Environmental Sciences Department at the Weizmann Institute reports that a sixth site may have been identified.
Natalio previously worked with Dr. Ido Azuri from Weizmann's Life Core Facilities Department to make use of AI and spectroscopy in archaeology. Using these tools, the two identified that stone tools had been burned at various sites in Israel as far back as 420,000 years ago.
Natalio and Azuri have been working with doctoral student Zane Stepka, Dr. Liora Kolska Horwitz from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and University of Toronto Professor Michael Chazan. The group made a bet with archaeologists working on findings from the Evron Quarry in the western Galilee, who believed that the team would not find anything.
Originally discovered in the 1970s, the Evron Quarry has yielded fossils and Paleolithic tools that date from 800,000 to 1 million years ago. But none for any visual traces of ash or charcoal, both of which degrade over time.
The Weizman researchers tried out a number of methods to push fire detection abilities forward and settled on a deep learning model. The AI-based method seeks out hidden patterns and can identify the chemical composition of materials at the molecular level, allowing researchers to estimate the level of heat to which the stone tools were exposed.
The team applied the AI model to 26 flint tools from the Evron Quarry, and the results showed that they had been heated to temperatures of over 600 degrees Celsius (1,112 F).
These new findings could shed light on the development of hominins' mastery of fire, and how that influenced other development.
The findings were published June 13 in the journal PNAS.
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