In northwest Europe, Beeches Pit, a 400,000 year old interglacial site in eastern England, has various traces of fire, suggesting that large hearths were maintained by the side of a creek. The traces include burnt bone, shells, combustion features, and most particularly the evidence of a refitting set of flint artefacts. It has been argued a number of times that fire management may have improved markedly around 400,000 years ago. Before this date at Pinnacle Point in South Africa, stone was being warmed to improve its working qualities around 164,000 years ago, interpreted as deliberate heat-treatment by early modern humans.

Sequence changes in the genes under selection appear before the split between modern humans and two archaic human groups, Neandertals and Denisovans, supporting the idea that human adaptation to a cooked diet had begun by at least 275,000 years ago. Although the anatomical evidence from fossil Homo suggests that cooking began in the Lower Paleolithic, archaeological evidence for the control of fire is weak until the Middle Paleolithic. Fire was certainly controlled by 250,000 years ago, but is evidenced only occasionally back to 400,000 years; the timing of the adoption of cooking remains unclear, with biological indicators suggesting an early date around 2 million years ago and the earliest direct evidence of cooked food consumption at just 50,000 years ago.

The page notes that "By 164,000 years ago modern humans were collecting and cooking shellfish" and that this behavior is documented in coastal South African sites associated with Homo sapiens. It also states that these early modern humans "spent a large part of each day gathering plants and hunting or scavenging animals," indicating a foraging lifestyle in which cooking is one activity among others rather than described as universally widespread across the species at that time.

"Genetic evidence of reduced jaw muscles implies the adoption of cooking by humans prior to the branching of H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis, placing the first use of fire for cooking firmly during the time of Homo erectus." It notes that this genetic change predates the first appearance of Homo sapiens, which it places at "200,000 years ago." The page further states that reductions in tooth and gut size are regarded as "clear evolutionary indicators of the widespread introduction of fire" in the hominin diet.

Evidence of the use of controlled fire becomes far more widespread, frequent, and convincing 400–300,000 years ago and becomes nearly as universal in its use by anatomically modern humans around 125–120,000 years ago, as its use in the modern day. At the Daughters of Jacob Bridge, Golan Heights, archaeologists found not only traces of fire usage, but also the oldest likely evidence for cooking of food (mainly, fish teeth that had been heated deep in a cave), dated to about 780,000 years ago. Fire was used regularly and systematically by early modern humans to heat-treat silcrete stone to increase its flake-ability for toolmaking around 164,000 years ago at the South African site of Pinnacle Point.

According to current evidence, Homo sapiens was unable to survive on a diet of raw wild foods. Archaeological evidence of fire use is scarce before ca. 400 ka, which suggests to some that the commitment to fire must have arisen in the mid-Pleistocene or later. Genetic research suggests that human adaptation to a cooked diet occurred before the evolution of Neanderthals and Denisovans, that is, before 550–765 ka, but this does not pinpoint when cooking became widespread behavior in any one hominin species.

Reporting on a Nature Ecology & Evolution study, the article explains that a site at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov in the northern Jordan Valley, dated to around 780,000 years ago, preserved fish teeth near fireplaces whose crystal structure indicates they "had been cooked under 500 degrees Celsius." A co-author states this is "the first evidence that Homo erectus had the cognitive ability to control fire and cook food," pushing back evidence for cooking well before the appearance of Homo sapiens and showing that controlled cooking can exist in specific locations long before it is demonstrably widespread in later species.

Ash and charred bone, the earliest known evidence of controlled use of fire, reveal that human ancestors may have used fire a million years ago to cook food and to ward off predators. Charred bones and ashed plant remains were found in Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa and dated to about 1 million years ago, indicating fire was lit and sustained in the cave by human ancestors rather than resulting from a natural wildfire.

At the Daughters of Jacob Bridge, Golan Heights, archaeologists found not only traces of fire usage, but also the oldest likely evidence for cooking of food, dated to approximately 780,000 years ago, based on heated fish teeth deep in a cave. This site is considered one of the oldest generally accepted pieces of evidence of human-controlled fire associated with cooking.

The earliest evidence of hearths (campfires) occur during the time range of Homo erectus. While we have evidence that hearths were used for cooking (and probably sharing) food, they are likely to have been places for social interaction, and also used for warmth and to keep away large predators. Soon after we see evidence in the fossil record of the earliest Homo erectus fossils (by about 1.9 million years ago), we see evidence in the archeological record for the first major innovation in stone tool technology; however, the page does not state that cooking was already widespread among Homo sapiens by 200,000 years ago.

The article summarizes research from Klasies River Cave in South Africa’s southern Cape, stating that scientists "found charred food remains from hearths" showing that anatomically modern humans "were roasting and eating plant starches, such as those from tubers and rhizomes, as early as 120,000 years ago." Researcher Larbey is quoted: "Our results showed that these small ashy hearths were used for cooking food and starchy roots and tubers were clearly part of their diet, from the earliest levels at around 120,000 years ago through to 65,000 years ago." This is direct archaeological evidence of cooking at particular Homo sapiens sites, but the article does not generalize this to species-wide, global practice around 200,000 years ago.

Live Science explains that "The timing is uncertain, but evidence suggests people were cooking food at least 50,000 years ago and as early as 2 million years ago." It notes that Wrangham argues cooking began "about 1.9 million years ago" with Homo erectus, but also stresses the lack of direct evidence of controlled fire that far back: "without evidence of controlled fire use from that long ago, the idea that Homo erectus was the first cook is still up for debate." The article emphasizes that archaeologists cannot yet pinpoint exactly when cooking began.

Frequencies of burnt flints from a 16‑m‑deep sequence of archaeological deposits at Tabun Cave, Israel, together with data from the broader Levantine archaeological record, demonstrate that regular or habitual fire use developed in the region between 350,000 and 320,000 years ago. The earliest evidence for hominin use of fire dates to more than a million years ago, but this later period shows habitual use rather than sporadic occurrences.

A science museum blog notes that "our direct human family, Homo sapiens, left evidence of cooking starchy plants in an underground oven in Africa dating back 170,000 years ago." The post contrasts this with earlier, more circumstantial evidence of burnt bones and charcoal attributed to Homo erectus. It then discusses a 780,000‑year‑old site with cooked fish as potentially the earliest evidence of hominids cooking food, emphasizing that 780,000 years ago is "long before Homo sapiens appeared," and describing that hominin as "most likely Homo erectus." The blog does not claim that cooking was already widespread among all Homo sapiens by 200,000 years ago, only that specific sites show use of cooking technologies by 170,000 years ago.

Discussing Richard Wrangham’s work, the Harvard Gazette reports that archaeological evidence of fire and cooking "dates back only about 800,000 years" because physical remnants of fire degrade. It adds that biological evidence shows that around 1.8 million years ago Homo erectus developed larger brains and bodies and smaller guts, jaws, and teeth, changes Wrangham interprets as "consistent with the switch to a more tender and energetically rich diet of cooked food." Wrangham’s argument suggests that cooking might have been common in Homo erectus populations by that time, but the article does not provide specific claims about how widespread cooking was among Homo sapiens exactly 200,000 years ago.

Ancient hominin sites in Africa contain fire residue more than a million years old, but this evidence could still only indicate mastery of the second stage of human control of fire—tending naturally occurring fires. New research suggests that hominins’ use of fire came in fits and starts and "was not the result of a single accident or stroke of genius. It was, instead, a process that likely unfolded over hundreds of thousands of years," indicating a long, gradual path to habitual, widespread fire use rather than an early sudden adoption.

Archaeologists have found the 780,000-year-old remains of a cooked carp-like fish at the wetland Acheulean site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov in Israel. While it is likely that early fire-using hominins had already cooked their food, definitive evidence of this practice was by early Homo sapiens and Neanderthals 170,000 years ago. The new analysis of the remains of a large carp-like fish recovered from Gesher Benot Ya’aqov pushes that date back 610,000 years, but the article notes that when fish cooking first began is still unknown and that there is no consensus as to when hominins first developed the ability to control fire and cook.

The Natural History Museum’s overview of Homo erectus states that this species "was also the most geographically widespread species apart from H. sapiens" and "possibly the first to cook food." It notes that evidence for controlled fire use includes ash and burnt bone fragments in a one‑million‑year‑old sediment layer at Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa, and that Homo erectus "may have been the earliest human relative to have controlled fire." The page highlights that scientists "don’t know when humans were first able to make fire at will" and that evidence is "quite thin on the ground," underscoring the uncertainty in pinpointing when cooking became widespread versus being practiced at particular sites, and it does not assert a species‑wide spread among Homo sapiens by 200,000 years ago.

In November 2022, an Israeli-led group of researchers announced that they had found evidence of cooking in the 780,000-year-old remains of a huge carp-like fish discovered in northern Israel. The previous earliest evidence of cooking dated from about 170,000 BC. Based on studies of tooth sizes and the feeding behaviour of monkeys, apes and modern humans, Harvard scientists suggest that cooking was commonplace among Homo erectus and probably originated early, around 1.9 million years ago, though the archaeological evidence for such an early, widespread cooking practice is sparse.

Reporting on a PNAS study, ABC News describes charred bones and ash in South Africa’s Wonderwerk Cave that indicate "the presence of frequent, controlled fires at the site one million years ago." These are attributed to early human ancestors, with the article noting that if confirmed, this evidence would surpass the "earliest widely accepted evidence of early human use of fire" at approximately 400,000 years ago. A scientist quoted cautions that while humans likely used fire at the site, this does not mean those hominins were "regular fire users." The piece deals with early fire control and possible cooking long before Homo sapiens, and shows that even with controlled fire, researchers are careful about claiming regular or widespread use, which bears on how confidently we can assert widespread cooking among Homo sapiens by 200,000 years ago.

A new study, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, shows that human ancestors in the Levantine region used fire at controlled temperatures to make tools around 300,000 years ago. Many burnt tools from the Late Lower Palaeolithic (420,000 to 200,000 years ago) also bear testimony to the fact that early humans in many parts of the world used fire during these periods. The study concludes that ancient hominins developed sophisticated technologies using fire for making tools more than 300,000 years ago.

Small pieces of charred tubers found at the Klasies River site in South Africa date back 120,000 years, making them the earliest-known evidence of Homo sapiens cooking carbs, according to recent research. These charred tubers indicate that more than 100 millennia ago, people were roasting tubers over the fire, a culinary practice that fueled their bodies and may have aided their migrations. The article also notes that hominins were roasting nuts, tubers, and seeds about 780,000 years ago, but it does not claim that by 200,000 years ago cooking was already widespread among Homo sapiens across their range.

A Reddit r/AskAnthropology answer summarizing current views states: "Richard Wrangham argues that H. erectus started cooking about 2 million years ago." It goes on to say: "The more widely accepted view today places consistent, controlled fire use after the emergence of behaviorally modern H. sapiens (around 250,000 years ago). This is when we see dedicated hearths, burnt bone, and the beginnings of earth ovens. However, we lack evidence for regular fire use before about 300,000 years ago." This reflects an expert’s description of archaeological consensus about the timing and regularity of controlled fire use and cooking.

Engoo’s summary of the same Nature Ecology & Evolution research states: "Some scientists estimate early human species may have been using fire to cook their food almost 2 million years ago, long before Homo sapiens turned up." It contrasts this with the new study’s findings that cooking fish at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov dates to about 780,000 years ago, thereby indicating that direct cooking evidence predates Homo sapiens, while speculative estimates push cooking back toward 2 million years ago.

By about 200,000 years ago, hominins begin constructing hearths and routinely re‑use cooking space, which leaves much better evidence of consistent, controlled use of fire. The field tends to agree that Homo neanderthalensis, anatomically modern Homo sapiens, and possibly even the latest members of Homo erectus/ergaster used fire. The earliest hearths and earth ovens appear in Europe and the Middle East and are associated with both Neanderthals and modern humans.

Existing evidence suggests humans started cooking 170,000 years ago; the current evidence pushes that timeline by more than 600,000 years. Cooking with fire is relatively recent, with existing evidence—heated remains of starchy plants, in an underground oven in Africa—dating back to only about 170,000 years ago. The findings of the current archaeological study push this date back by at least 600,000 years ago, but the article discusses earliest known evidence and does not provide support for the notion that cooking was already widespread among Homo sapiens by around 200,000 years ago.

A BBC Timestamp video segment explains that until recently it was thought that humans did not control fire until around 400,000 years ago, but new chemical analysis of burnt antelope bones from a South African cave suggests burning at about 350°C. The researcher states she can show the bones "were burnt in a fire that must have been created and controlled" and dates this to between 1 and 1.5 million years ago, likely attributable to Homo erectus. The narrator concludes that such work shows humans were "controlling fire and were possibly using it for things like cooking very early on in human evolution," underlining the long and uncertain timeline of cooking behaviors prior to Homo sapiens and not specifying when cooking became universally widespread in Homo sapiens populations.

An article discussing the 780,000-year-old fish-cooking site notes: "Some scientists estimate our early human cousins may have been using fire to cook their food almost 2 million years ago, long before Homo sapiens showed up." It describes the Gesher Benot Ya'aqov evidence as indicating that "early humans first cooked food around 780,000 years ago," and frames Homo sapiens as arriving significantly later than these early cooking behaviors.

Leading Israeli universities collaborate internationally to unearth the earliest proof of the controlled use of fire to cook meals. A startling scientific finding has been made after thorough examination of the remains of a fish resembling a carp discovered at the Israeli archaeological site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, which reveals that the fish were cooked there about 780,000 years ago. The report emphasizes that this is the earliest proof of controlled use of fire to cook meals, but it does not address when cooking became widespread among Homo sapiens specifically.

A Facebook post summarizing paleoanthropological findings states that "the oldest confirmed evidence of humans cooking was from 170,000 years ago, attributed to early Homo sapiens," and connects this to the use of well-designed stone tools and hearths by these populations. The post contrasts this with newer research suggesting cooking as early as 780,000 years ago by earlier human species, indicating that Homo sapiens’ involvement in cooking appears relatively late compared with older hominins.

Researchers have discovered the earliest known instance of human‑created fire, which took place in the east of England 400,000 years ago at Barnham Cross near Thetford in East Anglia. Compelling evidence that the fire was deliberately created includes pyrite, heated hand axes, and burnt soil all together, indicating that early Neanderthals were making fire about 400,000 years ago, far earlier than the previous best evidence.

780,000‑Year‑Old Baked Carp Is Earliest Evidence Of Humans Cooking With Fire. The gigantic carp wasn't cooked over an open flame, and may have been carefully baked in an earthen oven, providing direct evidence for the controlled use of fire to cook food hundreds of thousands of years before modern humans appeared.

While clear archaeological evidence of cooking, such as burnt bones and hearths, dates back to at least 50,000 years ago, some scientists argue on theoretical grounds that humans have been cooking for 1 or 2 million years. A commenter notes that "It's not rewriting human history. It's providing evidence to support speculation that humans have been cooking for 1 or 2 million years," reflecting the existence of speculative views about very early and potentially widespread cooking long before strong archaeological documentation. This discussion underscores that there is debate and speculation, but not consensus, about when cooking became widespread among hominins, including Homo sapiens.