The paleolake Hula was a popular destination for early humans living in and around northern Israel 800,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene. Archeologists believe communities would have assembled near its shores to forge tools and butcher ancient elephants.
Now, researchers writing in Quaternary Science Review suggest the availability of driftwood (and reliance on fire) may have played an influential factor in their decision to set up camp at the site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov in the Hula Valley. Using exceptionally rare charcoal deposits, the team could determine the source of wood burned hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Professor Nira Alperson-Afil from the Institute of Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University and Professor Naama Goren-Inbar at the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told Discover that the findings offer “a rare window into their decision-making processes.”
“These early hunter-gatherers apparently selected the lakeshore as their homebase not only because of the water, fauna and flora it provided, but because of the availability of driftwood,” said Alperson-Afil and Goren-Inbar. “This highlights the importance of this resource for these hominins and illustrates the habitual use of fire which required a constant supply of firewood.”
Early Humans and 800,000-Year-Old Charcoal
While preserved charcoal can be an important tool in the archaeologist’s arsenal, it can also be difficult to find, especially in sites as old as Gesher Benot Ya’aqov.
“Despite their importance, plants often remain an invisible part of the archaeological record,” Professor Ethel Allué, an archaeobotanist at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution and Universitat Rovira i Virgili, in Spain, told Discover.
In this instance, it was only possible because of the unusually vast number and variety of botanical remains that had been preserved – “It’s extraordinary for an 800,000-year-old site,” said Alperson-Afil and Goren-Inbar.
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Early Use of Fire
In total, the team analyzed 266 charcoal fragments under a microscope to compare the internal structure of the wood. The results revealed high levels of diversity, with wood from willow, pistachio, and pomegranate trees, among others, present in the collection. Wood from ash, representing more than 50 percent of the assemblage, appeared to be the most prominent, followed by olive.
The combination of plants is indicative of a warm Mediterranean environment, the researchers wrote – and a variety of habitats, ranging from lakeshore vegetation to open woodland.
The results could also suggest a reliance on driftwood as a source for fuel, which may have served as a major pull factor when it came to deciding where to live.
“When thinking about the early use of fire, we tend to focus on its positive effects on early humans – warmth, light, protection from predators, and cooked foods,” said Alperson-Afil and Goren-Inbar. “However, along with the advantages that fire brought to humans, it also made them dependent on its benefits as they became more and more vulnerable to its loss.”
In Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, the availability of driftwood appeared to have aided ”the demanding task of maintaining and fueling the fire,” the researchers wrote, and highlights the importance of fire in these communities.
While there is debate over when exactly hominins fully mastered the art of fire-making – researchers recently writing in Nature, for example, point to a 400,000-year-old site in the U.K. as the earliest evidence – the use and exploitation of fire was a process developed over a millennium, and is thought to have played a crucial role in human brain size.
Early Hominin Life at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov
As well as preserved charcoal, the site also carries the remains of hunted animals, discarded plant food, and stone tools, providing insight into the lives of these early hominins.
One particularly intriguing find is the skull and bones of a straight-tusked elephant, related to modern African elephants, with evidence of butchery. Archaeological evidence suggests the carcass was processed on-site.
Meanwhile, an abundance of carp teeth found alongside clusters of burnt flint suggests hunter-gatherers were cooking fish on fire, perhaps a little like an ancient BBQ.
“The study brings us another step closer to the daily lives of these early hominins,” Alperson-Afil and Goren-Inbar told Discover.
Read More: Modern Humans Made Seal Tooth Pendants Around 15,000 Years Ago, Hinting at Complex Culture
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