Archaeologists say they have discovered a new type of Neanderthal hearth at Vanguard Cave, Gibraltar. This hearth structure coincides with predictions from theoretical studies which require the use of heating structures for obtaining birch tar, commonly used in hafting. The researchers propose that the hearth was used for heating rockroses under anoxic conditions by burning herbs and shrubs, over a guano mixed with sand layer.
The Neanderthal hearth structure could have been made following these steps. Image credit: Ochando et al., doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109025.
“Fire use and control would have provided crucial adaptive advantages to Homo, even have shaped its evolution,” said Gibraltar National Museum Clive Finlayson and colleagues.
“Manufacturing fire technology has been shown common ever since 400,000 years ago to present and most likely, it happened long before.”