A new study has revealed that early humans were extensively using fire to transform their environments as far back as 50,000 years ago, significantly earlier than previously understood. The findings suggest that large-scale human influence on ecosystems and the carbon cycle began tens of millennia before the advent of agriculture and settled civilisations. This is reported by Xinhua News Agency, a partner of TV BRICS.
An international research team, led by scientists from the Institute of Oceanology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, analysed a 300,000-year-old marine sediment core extracted from the East China Sea. Their analysis identified a sharp increase in fire activity across East Asia beginning around 50,000 years ago.
Experts believe that the study challenges the longstanding belief that systematic fire use by humans began only 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. The researchers focused on pyrogenic carbon, microscopic charcoal particles formed by incomplete combustion of vegetation, to reconstruct the region’s fire history.
According to the research team, fire served as a critical survival tool during the migration period, providing warmth, protection, and the means to process food in harsh glacial conditions. Its widespread use likely accelerated cultural and technological development while simultaneously altering landscapes and atmospheric carbon levels.
The author of the study, Wan Shiming, noted that the research calls for a reassessment of the timeline for human impact on Earth’s systems.
“If early humans were already influencing the carbon cycle through widespread fire use 50,000 years ago, then our current models of human–environment interaction may require significant revision,” he said.
According to the source, the findings add to a growing body of evidence that humans have been a major force in environmental change far longer than previously acknowledged.
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