Fragments of iron pyrite, a rock that can be used with flint to make sparks, were found by a 400,000-year-old hearth in eastern Britain. (Jordan Mansfield | Courtesy Pathways to Ancient Britain ...

A groundbreaking discovery in Barnham, UK, has revealed the earliest evidence of humans using tools to create fire, dating back over 400,000 years. Published in Nature, this study sheds new light on a ...

Billy Joel famously sang, we didn't start the fire - it was always burning since the world's been turning. But that's not entirely true. Humans do start fires to cook, to heat, to gather around.

Some of history's most important inventions can be credited to the British, from the steam engine to the World Wide Web. Now, research places one of the world's most profound discoveries on our shores ...

It's easy to take for granted that with the flick of a lighter or the turn of a furnace knob, modern humans can conjure flames — cooking food, lighting candles or warming homes. For much of our ...