CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 30, Number i, FebruaryI989

? I989 byThe Wenner-Gren

Foundation Research.All rights
forAnthropological reserved
OOII -3204/89/300I-ooo0$2.25

The manufactureofstone tools and the manipulationof

HominidUse ofFire
fireare the most importantextrasomaticmilestonesin
our early evolutionarytrajectory.Stone tools provided
hominidswith an adaptiveadvantageoverotheranimals
in the Lowerand in termsoffeedingstrategies,protection,and the ability
to make othermaterialitems. Controloffire,while per-

Middle Pleistocene
formingsomewhat analogous functions,had otherim-
portantbenefits,particularlywarmth,light,and cook-
ing. The earliest stone artifactsappear in the East
Africanarchaeological record duringthe late Pliocene
andLowerPleistocene, 2.5-I.5 million yearsB.P., at lo-
A Review ofthe Evidence' calities such as Olduvai Gorge,Koobi Fora,Kada Gona,
and the Lower Omo Valley (e.g., Bunn et al., 1980,
ChavaillonI976, CorvinusandRoche1980, Isaac 198I,
by StevenR. James LeakeyI97I, Merrickand MerrickI976).2 The earliest
use of fire,however,is still the subject of considerable
debate.Most archaeologistsaccept theidea, based on the
evidencefromZhoukoudian,thatHomo erectuswas us-
ingfirein the Middle Pleistoceneabout o. 5 millionyears
Archaeologicaldatafortheuse offirebyearlyhominidsarecriti- B.P. Controversialclaims forcontrolleduse offireearlier
callyexaminedat over30 Lowerand MiddlePleistocenesitesin than this have recently been made for Chesowanja,
Africa,Asia,andEurope.The earliestreported occurrences offire Kenya,dated I.4 million yearsB.P. (Gowlettet al. i981),
fromtheseregionsconsistofindirectinferences, mostofwhich
areconsideredto be equivocal,forno actualhearthsarefound and forYuanmou, China, dated I.7 millionyearsB.P. (Jia
untiltheappearanceofNeanderthals at theendoftheMiddle i985). Even forZhoukoudian, the evidence is not clear-
Pleistocene.The roleofnaturalprocessesin producing thesup- cut,as is notedbyBinford
andHo (i985:429):
posedfireevidencein thearchaeological recordis discussed,anda
meansforevaluatingtheextantdatais presented. It is concluded Ifthe ash layersdo representin-situfires,the "cave
thatbeforetheuse offirebyearlyhominidscan be assessed,bet- home ofthe Beijingman" may well have been one of
terdocumentation forthisimportant development in humanevo- the first"homes" in the temperatezone to have had
lutionis required. "centralheating.". . . The assumptionthatman in-
troducedand distributedthe fireis unwarranted,as is
STEVEN R. JAMES iS studying fora Ph.D. in anthropology at the assumptionthatburnedbones and othermateri-
ArizonaStateUniversity (Tempe,Ariz.85287, U.S.A.).Bomin
I95 I, he was educatedat theUniversity ofCalifomia,Berkeley als are thereby virtueofman's cookinghis meals.
(B.A.,I975) and theUniversity ofUtah (M.A.,i982). His research The entirequestion ofman's use offireat Zhoukou-
interests arezooarchaeology, hunter-gatherers, originsofagricul- dian needs to be reexamined.
turalsocieties,paleoanthropology, paleoenvironmental research,
historicalarchaeology, and culturalresourcemanagement. He has Given the significancethat controloffirewould have
conductedfieldwork in thewestemand southwestem United had for early hominid development,one mightexpect
Statesandis currently involvedin settlement pattemresearchof the archaeologicalevidenceto have been thoroughlyex-
puebloagricultural societiesandfaunalanalysesin Arizona.His
publicationsinclude"HohokamPattemsofFaunalExploitation at amined.This is not the case. The associationoffirewith
MuchasCasas" (ArizonaState University Anthropological Field faunal remains, stone tools, and hominid fossils at
Studies I5:I7i-96), "WhatMean These Sherds?:A Functional Zhoukoudian is farfromconclusive and is most likely
Approachto FremontCeramicsin theWestemPeriphery" (Uni- the result of noncultural postdepositional processes
versityofUtahAnthropological PapersIII:I07-i8), "Surprise and Ho
(Binford I985, Binford
and Stonei986). Similar
ValleySettlement and Subsistence:A CriticalReviewofthe
FaunalEvidence"(JournalofCaliforniaand GreatBasinAn- naturalfactorsmay be responsiblefortheassociationsof
thropology5: I 5 6-75 ), and,withDonald R. Currey, "Paleoenvi- fireand stone tools at many other Lower and Middle
ronments oftheNortheastem GreatBasinandNortheastem Basin Pleistocene sites. The time has come to reexaminethe
RimRegion:A ReviewofGeologicalandBiologicalEvidence" evidenceforfireat these sites. While severalresearchers
(SocietyforAmericanArchaeology Papers2:27-5 2). The present
paperwas submitted in finalform30 vi 88. have discussed the recent East Africanevidence (Bar-
betti I986; Clark and Harris I985; Isaac I984:35-37;
Tothand Schicki986:3I-32), therehavebeenfewex-
tensive reviews of this topic since Oakley's (i956a, b,
i. I am verygratefulto Geoffrey A. Clark,ArizonaStateUniver- I96 I) syntheses.This paperdrawstogetherand critically
sity,forcommentsand encouragement. A portionoftheresearch
was conductedwhileI held an AchievementRewardsforCollege examinesthe available data on firefromLowerand Mid-
Scientists(ARCS) ScholarshipduringI987-88, and I thankthe dle Pleistocenesites.The evidenceis largelyindirect,for
facultyin the DepartmentofAnthropology at ArizonaStateUni-
versityandmembersofthePhoenixChapteroftheARCS Founda-
tion forthis support.Glen E. Rice providedaccess to the micro- 2. In additionto theseearlystone-tool
assemblages,
severalquartz-
computerfacilityon campus wherethe figureswere produced. ite cobblesand flakeshave recentlybeen reportedfromnorthern
Lewis R. Binford and an anonymousrefereeoffered severaluseful Pakistanthatare estimatedto datearound2 millionyearsago and
suggestions on an earlierversionofthispaper.I also thankKathryn consideredto have been manufactured by hominids(Dennell,
-E.Pedrickformoralsupport,typing, and editorialassistance. Rendell, and Hailwood I988a, b).

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 2 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 30, Number i, FebruaryI989

TABLE I
Lower and Middle Pleistocene Sites withEvidence ofFire

Age
(millionyearsB.P.) KindofEvidencea
Site Range Mean BD H FR RA BC A C FHW BL BB BS Total

AfricaandNearEast
Chesowanja - I.4 - - - - +? - - - - - - I
FxJj5oKoobi Fora I.5-I.6 I.55 - - _ _ _ _ +-? - - I
FxJj2oEKoobi Fora I-3-I.5 I.4 - - ? - +? - - 2
Gadeb 0.7-I-5 I.I - - + ? - - - - - I
Middle Awash 2.0-0.5 I.25 - - _ - - - _ _ _ _ I
Melka-Kuntur6 - 0.35 - - +? - -_ _- _ I
Olorgesailie - 0.4 - +? - - - - +? - - - - 2
Swartkrans 0.2-0.7 0.45 - - - + - I
JisrBanat Yarub 0.4-0.5 0.45 - - - + - I
Kalambo Falls 0.07-0.I8 0.I25 - - _ + _ _ + + _- - 3
Cave of Hearths 0.2-0.7 0.45 + - - - - - - - - - - I
Klasies River Mouth 0.I2-0.I3 0.I25 - + _ _ _ + + _ - + - 4
Florisbad >0.043-0.128 o.85 - + - - - _ _ _ - + - 2
Montagu Cave >0.058-o.2 0.I25 + _ _ _ _ + + _ _ _ - 3
Asia
Yuanmou o.6-i.7 I-I5 - - - _ _ _ + _ _ + - 2
Xihoudu I.O-I.8 I.4 - - - - - - - - - + - I
Trinil 0.5-o.83 o.67 - - - - - - + - _ I
Gongwangling 0.5-I.0 0.75 - - - - +? - _ _ _ I
Zhoukoudian 0.4-0.5 0.45 + +? - + - + + - + + - 7
Jinniushan 0.4-0.5 0.45 - - + - + + - - - + - 4
Europe
Vertesszollos 0.3-0.6/0.I85 0.4 - - -+ - I
Torralba 0.3-0.5 0.4 - - - + + - - - 2
Ambrona 0.3-0.5 0.4 - - - - - - + - - - - I
St. Esteve-Janson 0.25-0.3 o.28 - + + + - + + - - - - 5
Terra Amata 0.23-0.4 0.32 - + - - - - + - + - + 4
Abri Vaufrey - 0.235 - - - - - - - - - + - I
Orgnac 0.I2-0.2 o.i6 - + - - - - - - - - -
Fontechevade 0. I 2-0.2 o.i6 - + - - - - - - - - - I
Lazaret 0. I 2-0.2 o.i6 - + - - - - + - - - - 2
La Cotte 0.I2-0.2 o.i6 - + - - - - - - - - - I
Swanscombe 0.3-0.35 0.33 - - - - - - + - + - - 2
Marks Tey 0.2-0.25 0.23 - - - - - - +? - I
Hoxne 0.2-0.24 0.22 - - - - - + - - - - I
PontnewyddCave 0.2-0.25 0.23 - - - - - - - - + - - I

Total 3 IO 4 4 3 5 i6 2 6 Io I 64

aBD, burneddeposit;H, hearth;FR,fire-cracked

rock;RA,reddenedarea;BC, bakedclay;A, ash; C, charcoal;FHW,fire-hardened
wood;BL,burnedlithics;BB,burnedbone;BS,burnedshell; +, present;+?, presentbutquestionable.

thereare no actual hearthsuntil the appearance of the
Neanderthals(H. sapiens neanderthalensis)at theend of
the Middle Pleistocene. Much of the evidence priorto
this time is equivocal, and natural processes may ex-
plain it.
The Evidence
A review of the literaturehas yieldedat least 34 Lower
and Middle Pleistocene sites for which some formof
evidence forfirehas been attributedto hominids(table
I). A preliminary word about the datingof the sites and
the compilationof the data is in order.
The Lower Pleistocene beginsabout i.8 million years
ago and ends at 730,000 yearsB.P., the approximatedate
of the Matuyama/Brunhespaleomagnetic boundary.
The Middle Pleistocene terminatesabout I28,000 years
B.P. with the extensivemarine transgression of the last
interglacial (Riss-Wiirmin the old Alpine sequence),
the division between oxygen-isotopeStages 5 and 6
(Shackletonand OpdykeI973, I976). This view is ac-
ceptedby most Pleistoceneresearchers(e.g.,Cook et al.
I982, Stringer
I985 a). Whileconsiderable
advancesin
uranium-series,thermoluminescence, potassium-argon,
paleomagnetic,and other dating techniques have been
made in the past decade, many sites, particularlyin
Europe,are dated onlyby relativemeans such as glacial
sequences and biostratigraphicevidence based upon
faunalassemblages.Dates fortheMiddle StoneAge sites

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 JAMES Hominid Use of Fire | 3

in SouthAfricaare also in fluxat themomentbecause of tools of the Karari industryand a hominid mandible
problemsof correlatingterrestrialdeposits with radio- (KNM-ER 3230) consideredto be thatofA. boisei (Clark
carbon dates and marine oxygen-isotopestages derived and Harris i985, Harrisand Isaac I976). Patches of red-
fromdeep-sea cores (see BinfordI984, Klein i983). For dish-orangediscoloredsedimentsmeasuring30-40 cm
these reasons, the rangesand mean dates derivedfrom in diameter and io-is cm in thickness are reported.
various sources are reported(table i). Analysesusingpaleomagneticand thermoluminescence
Primarysources and site reportswere consultedto the techniqueshave indicatedthat several of these features
extentpossible in compilingthe data. Secondarysources were heated to 2000-4000 C, althoughthe natureof the
were used in some instances.Even in site reports,how- fireis equivocal (Barbettii986:776; Clark and Harris
ever,therewas oftenlittle detailed informationon the i985:I0-I2; Isaac i984:36; Toth and Schick 6:3i). Dis-
evidence forfire. coloration observed on conjoined fragmentsof a core,
suggestingthermalalteration,is noted. Thermal alter-
AFRICA
ation is also evident on some lithics at FxJjso (Isaac
i984:36), dated between i.5 and i.6 million years B.P.
Thirteensites in Africaexhibitearlyevidenceforfire.In (Bunn et al. i980:iI3).
the past decade, East Africahas produced the earliest For the Middle Pleistocene Acheulian site of Olorge-
such evidence fromLower Pleistocene sites at Cheso- sailie, Kenya, Isaac (I977:93-94, 228) reportsthat no
wanja, Koobi Fora,Gadeb, and theMiddle Awash Valley. positive evidence forfirewas found. A hearthlikede-
Gowlettet al. (I 98 I; Gowlett,Harris,and Wood I 982) pression contained stones and bones but no charcoal.
claim thathominidswere usingand controllingfireI.42 Microscopic charcoal was observed in the Member 7
million years ago at Chesowanja (GnJii/6E),near Lake silts overlyingthe main occupations.Isaac (ig984:36)in-
Baringoin Kenya. The evidence consists of 5 I clasts of dicates that naturalbush firesmay have been responsi-
reddish-brownclay, rangingin size fromtinyflecksto ble forthe burning.Similarly,Leakey's work at the site
pieces 5-7 cm in diameter (Clark and Harris i985), in the I940S foundno traceof fire(Leakeyi95i:i59;
foundin association with nonhominidfaunal remains Oakley 1956 b: 38), and recentdiscussionsoverthe inter-
and Oldowan stone tools. Althoughthe site is only i 5 m pretations of the faunal remains have not reported
fromfive cranial vault fragmentsassigned to a robust burned bones (BinfordI977; Binfordand Todd i982;
australopithecine,Australopithecus boisei (KNM-CH Isaac I977:89-93; Leakey I977; Shipman, Bosler, and
304), the researchersattributethe lithics,animal bones, Davis i98i).
and burnedclay to H. erectus.3Refiringtestson one clay Possible evidenceforhominidfireuse is reportedfrom
sample indicatedthatit had been firedat 4000 C, a tem- three areas in Ethiopia. Locality 8E at Gadeb in the
peratureconsiderednormalforcampfires.The possibil- east-centralhighlandsproducedan earlyAcheulian as-
itythatit was the resultofa naturalbush fireis rejected. semblage and faunal remains, as well as several frag-
Isaac (i982; i984:36) notes,however,thatreddened mentsofwelded tuffthat appearedto have been burned
patches in the groundhave been observedby him and (Clark and Kurashina I979). Paleomagneticanalyses on
othersat Koobi Fora,Olorgesailie,and near Bodo in the the welded tuffsamples were, however, inconclusive,
Middle Awash and at recentbush firelocations in East since it was impossibleto rule out naturalrefiring ofthe
Africa.These firedclay areas,which appearto have been rocksdue to morerecentvolcanic activity(Barbettiet al.
producedby theburningofstumpsin bush fires,disinte- ig80). The Gadeb sites date between about 0.7 and I.5
grate upon erosion into clasts like those describedat million years, and, because Developed Oldowan and
Chesowanja. He further pointsout thatthe tools,bones, Acheulian tools are present,are thoughtto have been
and firedclay have been redepositedin a small channel producedby H. erectus.In the Middle Awash RiverVal-
or runneland thereforetheirassociation may be fortui- ley,various cone-shapedconcentrationsofreddishclay,
tous.Clarkand Harris(i985:I2-6) reportthatwhilea ca. 40-80 cm in diameter,were observedin sediments
linear arrangementof some materialsis apparentfrom rangingfrom Pliocene to Middle Pleistocene in age
distributional plots,suggestingthepresenceofa possible (Clark et al. i984:425; Clark and Harris i985:I7-i8).
runnel,no size sortingsuch as mightbe expectedofwa- Clay samples fromthese featuresfound near one 01-
ter-transported debrisis indicated.Thus the archaeolog- dowan (Bodo-A4)and one Acheulian (HAR-A3)site were
ical remains appear to have been deposited in a low- determinedon the basis of paleomagnetic analyses to
energyenvironment.They neverthelessconclude that have been baked at 2000 C or more. Two otherclay fea-
controlleduse of fireat Chesowanja is still unproven. tureswere excavated in the vicinityof severallithic ar-
Sites FxJj2oEand Fxjj5o at Koobi Fora,on the east side tifactsand a recentlydiscoveredH. erectuscranialfrag-
ofLake Turkanain Kenya,are reportedto containpossi- ment (BOD-VP-i/i) in Middle Pleistocene sedimentsat
ble evidence of fire.FxJj2oE, on the KarariEscarpment, a locality about 400 m fromthe initial Bodo hominid
dated to I.5 million years B.P., is associated with stone find(Clarket al. i984:427; Conroyet al. I978).
Clark and Harris(i 985: I 8) considertheMiddle Awash
3. The long-standing
burned clay featuresto have been createdwhen burning
issue of whetheraustralopithecinesor early
Homo in Africamanufactured stoneand bone tools has recently tree stumps baked adjacentclay sedimentsthathad been
been addressedby severalresearchers(Foley I987, Lewin I988, built up by termitesaround their bases. They suggest
Susman i988). that earlyhominidsmay have been burningthe stumps

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4 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 30, Number r, FebruaryI989

in much the same manneras present-dayfarmersin In- moredetail beforewe can attributethe evidenceto early
dia, who do so to have fireavailable while workingaway hominids.In addition,no evidence forfirehas been re-
fromtheirhabitationareas (p. 2o): ported fromthe extensive research at Olduvai Gorge,
Tanzania(Leakeyi95i:i59; LeakeyI97I). Evenrecent
Althoughit is goingto be difficultto proveit, this
ethnographicevidenceprovidesa readyand simple analyses of cut marks and butcheringpatternsforthe
explanationforthe way thatfirecould have been con- Olduvai faunal remains have apparentlynot yielded
burned bones, or least they are not mentionedin the
servedverysuccessfullyfromas farback as when our
currentdebate over scavengingversushunting(see, e.g.,
hominidancestorsfirstbeganto be bipedal and had
BinfordI98I, I984, I985; Bunn I98I; Blumenschine
theirhands available formanipulatingthings.From
Bunn and Blumenschine I987; Bunn and Kroll
I987;
observingand makinguse ofburningstumpsand
Potts I986; Potts and Shipman I98I; Shipman
I986;
branchesit must have been a relativelyshortstep for This negativeevidence suggeststhat earlyhomi-
i986).
an intelligentprimateto make use ofalreadyburning
nids were not using fire 2-I.5 million years ago and
wood to set alightotherdryvegetation,providing
furthercalls into question the so-called evidence at the
thatthe advantagesfirecould givewere sufficiently
otherEast AfricanLower Pleistocene sites.
compelling.
Several Middle Pleistocene sites in southernAfrica
There are, however,several problemswith this sce- have produced more tangible evidence forfire: Swart-
nario. First,as these researcherspoint out, the burned krans, Kalambo Falls, Cave of Hearths, and Montagu
clay concentrationsfoundnearearlyhominidartifactual Cave. While the datingof these sites is not secure,they
remains in the Middle Awash also occur elsewherein containAcheulian tools in theirbasal levels, and thisin
the valley in Pliocene and Pleistocenedepositsthatlack southernAfrica assigns them to the Early Stone Age
culturalmaterials.Thus the association of artifactsand (ESA) (see Volman I984:170). The newest evidence
the clay concentrationsis probablyfortuitous.Second, comes from recent excavations at Swartkrans(Brain
none of the faunal remains are reportedas havingbeen i985). From the ESA member containing Acheulian
burned,suggestingthat if the stumps were burningat tools, several bone tools, bones with hominid-inflicted
the time ofhominidoccupations,theywerenot used for cut marks,and burnedbones have been recovered.Al-
roastinganimal meat. Third, archaeological materials thoughthe onlyhominidfossilsfoundthusfarare those
fromthese hominid occupations are forthe most part of robust australopithecines,Brain attributesthe cut
not foundin directassociation with the burnedclay. An marksand burnedbone to Homo, concluding(p. 75) that
exceptionto this is a potentialMiddle Pleistocene hip- "the sudden appearance of meat-eating evidence at
popotamus-butchering site (HAR-A2) containingstone Swartkransmay be a result of the acquisition of fire,
tools and fourlumps ofbaked clay (Clarket al. I984:427, permittingHomo groups not only to overnightin the
fig.3). Finally,the Indian farmersmentionedabove are cave, but also to sit by the fireand process (?hunted)
burningstumps to facilitatethe exploitationof wood- meat." 4 AlthoughBrain brieflymentionedthe bumed
land forbuilding materials and probablyclearance for bones fromSwartkransto me at the FirstInternational
planting.This is quite different fromthe possible occa- Bone Modification Conference held in Carson City,
sional use of naturallyburnedtree stumpsforfoodpro- Nev., in i984, he was not completelycertainabout the
cessing and warmthby earlyhominidhunter-gatherers. burningat that time. Chemical tests should be made to
For these reasons,the idea of hominiduse of firein the determine whether they are burned or manganese-
Middle Awash Valley should be viewed with caution. stained(see OakleyI954, i956b, i96i). Ifthebonesare
Elsewherein the Awash Valley,thepresenceof"burnt in factburned,theyrepresentthe earliestevidenceoffire
stones" is noted from the Upper Acheulian "living fromthe Middle Pleistocene in Africa.
floor" of Garba I at Melka-Kunture,dated about o.35 By far the strongestearly evidence forfirein Africa
million years B.P. (Chavaillon et al. I979). Unfortu- comes fromKalambo Falls in northernZambia (Clark
nately, no qualitative or quantitative data on these i969:i60-62, I73; I970:I43, pl. I3). Charred logs,char-
stones are provided.It should be pointed out that vol- coal, reddenedareas, carbonizedgrassstems and plants,
canic depositsofa welded tuffapparentlydirectlyunder- and wooden implements,possibly fire-hardened, were
lie Garba IB (Chavaillon et al. I979:fig. 3), raising the recovered. The site was initially radiocarbon-dated at
possibility that the so-called burned stones may have about 6I,000 years B.P. and later estimated at greater
been derivedfromthis stratigraphic unit (TuffE) and are than i io,ooo years B.P. on the basis of amino-acidrace-
thereforethe resultof volcanic alteration. mizationofthewood (Lee, Bada, and PetersonI976). It is
In summary,the most parsimonious explanation for now consideredto be around i 8o,ooo yearsB.P. (see Isaac
the reddenedpatches,burnedclay, and burnedlithicsat i984:35).
these East Africansites is that theywere producedby Burnedcave deposits are presentin the ESA levels at
naturalfiresor volcanic activity.At Chesowanja,forex- Cave ofHearths,South Africa(Mason i962). The "basal
ample, the overlyingChesowanja basalt formationis
located about 2oo m fromthe site containingthe burned 4. Fromdetailedanalysesof robustaustralopithecine handbones
clay (Gowlettet al. Ig8I:fig. i). The role of Pleistocene from Swartkrans Susman (i988) concludes that Paranthropusro-
volcanism and other natural processes in creatingthe bustusratherthanHomo sp. manufactured andusedthestoneand
vestiges of fireat these sites needs to be examined in bone toolsfoundin thedeposits.

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 JAMES HominidUse ofFire15

hearth,"as the lower deposit was designated,was over Even recentexcavationsat Tighenif(formerly Ternifine)
I.3 m thick and at one time was consideredthe oldest in Algeriahave yieldedno such evidence (Geraadset al.
evidence of human firein Africa.However,aftera visit i986).
to thesite in I95 3 and laterchemical testsofthe deposit,
Oakley(I954, i956b, i96i) determined
thedeposittobe NEAR EAST
calcined bat guano burned eitherthroughnatural pro-
cesses or as a result of later human-madefiresin the The onlyindicationsoffirefromthe Middle Pleistocene
uppercave levels. Lightning,which could have been at- in theNear East have been foundat theAcheuliansite of
tractedto updraftsfromthe cave, has also been consid- JisrBanat Yarub,Israel (Clark i966:2i9), wherea burned
ered a cause of these burneddeposits (Braini967:294). tibia and bone splinterswere recoveredwith Middle
The Acheulian levels of Montagu Cave in southwest- Acheulian handaxes and cleavers.
ernCape Province,SouthAfrica,have longbeen thought At the contemporaryAcheulian site of Latamne in
to contain earlyfireevidence in the formof what once northernSyria, Clark (i966:.29) initially considered
were consideredto be burnedorganicdeposits (Deacon that several concentrationsof limestone blocks could
I975:559; Klein I977:II9; Oakley i956b:38; i96i:I78). have servedas cookingstones.He laterinterpreted these
These levels (Layers 3 and S) are dated in excess of featuresas the footingsof windbreakstructures(Clark
5o,8oo yearsB.P., beyondthe rangeofradiocarbondating I967, i968). A few lithic items at Latamne exhibited
(KellerI970, I973). Whilelargeamountsofplantopals pot-lid fracturesand reddeningsuggestiveof burning,
fromgrasses and beetle carapaces, legs, and wings are but Clark (I9662 i9) consideredthese to be the resultof
present,the suggestionof firein these levels has not frostaction. Some of the limestone rubble exhibited
been substantiatedby later excavations (Keller I970, similar patterns,a sample of which was submittedto
I973). Keller(I970:I90) has interpretedthe Montagu K. P. Oakley foranalysis but producedno evidence of
Cave evidence as resultingfromAcheulian "occupa- thermalalteration(Clark i968:47).
tions duringwhich bundles of grass,to which insects
were clinging,were carriedinto the cave forsittingor
ASIA
sleeping,"but elsewherehe clearlyindicates that there
is no evidence forfirein the Acheulian layers(I973:3). Six Asian sites, five in China and one in Java,have
The organicnatureof the depositssuggests,in my opin- yielded evidence of firefromLower and Middle Pleis-
ion, that they are primarilybat guano accumulations tocene contexts.The best-knownof these is Locality i,
similar to those describedby Oakley (I954) at Cave of Zhoukoudian, which contained 50 m of cave deposits
Hearths. Charcoal apparentlywas not observedin the dated between 0.4 and o. 5 million yearsB.P. Use of fire
Acheulian levels at Montagu Cave but was presentin by hominids occupyingthe cave has been suggestedby
overlyingLayer 2, which yielded Howieson's Poort ar- the presence of burned bones, ash, charcoal, burned
tifacts(Middle Stone Age [MSA]). chipped-stoneartifacts,and hearths.Charcoal fromde-
By Middle Stone Age times,ca. 35,000 to i28,000 posits is identifiedas redbud(Cercis sp. indet.)(Chaney
years B.P. or earlier, the presence of fire is well- and Daugherty I933, cited in Zhang i985:I57). The
established (Klein I983:33). For example, the initial burnedbones are describedas black, gray,and blue-to-
MSA I levels in Cave i and ShelteriA at Klasies River bluish-greenin color,with warpingand crazing.Associ-
Mouth (Layers 37-39) contained ash, charcoal, and ated with the burned deposits are stone tools and H.
tracesof hearths(Singerand Wymeri982:i6-I7, 22). erectusfossils.Taken together,these materialsare con-
Cave i also yielded a small number of burned bones sidered by most archaeologiststo be the earliest un-
(Binford1984:i59-65), but theirprovenienceby level is doubted evidence forhominid use of fire(e.g., Movius
not indicated.Althoughthe datingof the MSA deposits I949; Oakley i956a, b, I96I; Watanabe i985; Wu and
at Klasies River Mouth is uncertain,the initial levels Lin I983; Zhang i985) and are so reportedin numerous
couldbe as old as o.I2-0.I3 millionyears.At Florisbad archaeologyand physical anthropologytextbooks(e.g.,
Springin the Orange Free State, renewed researchhas Campbell I982:294-96; Fagan I986:iI7; Wolpoff
uncovereda Middle Stone Age occupation (Unit F) con- ig80:i95; Wymer i982:76-77; see also comments by
taininga hearth and burned bones. Scatteredcharcoal Binford i98i:29I-92). A view expressed by Movius
just above the hearth but in the same unit was dated (I949:402) 40 years ago epitomizes the way in which
olderthan43,700 yearsB.P. (Pta-3465),beyondtherange archaeologistshave until veryrecentlyregardedthe use
of radiocarbondating (Kuman and Clarke I986). The of fireby H. erectusat Zhoukoudian: "Fire was a basic
Florisbadcranium,discoveredin I932, is now consid- item in his daily life. He presumablycooked his meat
ered an archaic H. sapiens and is apparentlyfromthe overthe open hearthin whichhe burnedthewood ofthe
earliestlevels of the springdeposits (Units 0 [ = Peat I] Redbud(Cercis blackii), a typeofshrub.Since firewould
and P), considerablybelow the hearth.The age of the have provided warmth in the then-existingcave, and
craniumis estimatedbetweeno. i and o.2 million years since it would keep predatoryanimals away at night,it
on the basis ofcomparisonswith otherAfricanhominid must have been an immense asset to him."
fossils(Clarke i985, Kuman and Clarke I986). Whetherthe deposits were burnedand whetherthey
At the extreme other end of the continent,early occurredwith hominid remains at Locality i have re-
hominid evidence of fireis lacking fromNorth Africa. cently been questioned at length by Binfordand Ho

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6 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 3o, Number I, FebruaryI989

(i985). These researcherspoint out that there are no terpret, the materialfromXihouducould well be natural
structurallydefinedhearthsand that the so-called ash stream-battered cobbles and flakes.
layersappear to consist of owl pellets,hyena scats, and Another controversialearly site is Yuanmou, near
otherorganicaccumulations that have been decalcified Shangnabang,Yunnan (JiaI985, Pope and CroninI984),
and burned,perhapsas a resultof spontaneouscombus- wheretwo H. erectusincisorswere foundin i965. Later
tion or surfacefires.Further,fromcorrespondencere- excavationsuncoveredseveral stone tools, nonhominid
centlyuncoveredat theBritishMuseum it appearsthata vertebratefossils of which two dark-coloredmammal
sample of five "burned" bones fromZhoukoudian was bones are suggestive of burning, and considerable
submittedto Oakley forchemical analysis by the Abbe amountsofcharcoal.Dating ofthe site is problematic.A
Breuilin I959 (Binfordand Ho I985 :438). The resultsof paleomagneticdate of I.7 million yearsB.P. was initially
this analysis indicatedthatno burningwas presentand obtained(Jia i985), but recentdatingplaces the site be-
that the darkenedappearance of the bones was due to tween 0.5 and o.6 million years B.P. (Pope and Cronin
manganese staining.Similarly,Stringer(I985b) has re- I984, Wu andWangi985).
portednew analyses on two bones and a sedimentsam- Two othersites in China withMiddle Pleistoceneevi-
ple of "burnt cave earth" collected by Breuil in I938 dence of fire are Gongwangling,Shaanxi, and Jinniu-
fromthe "Sinanthropuslayer"ofLocalityi and givento shan, Liaoning. At Gongwangling,20 stone tools, a H.
Oakley in ig i. AlthoughStringerdoes not say so, the erectus cranium,and charcoal fleckshave been found,
sediment sample sounds very much like the one de- but whetherthe charcoalindicateshominiduse offireis
picted by Oakley (i956b:39, pl. 2.).Results of the new uncertain(Zhang i985). Paleomagneticand amino-acid
chemical analyses indicate that manganeseis absent in racemizationanalyses date the site at o.5 i to I .0 million
the threesamples and that one of the bones is probably yearsB.P. (Wu and Wang i98 5:table 2.I). JinniushanSite
burned(8.4% freecarbon).The "burntcave earth"is not C is a cave Layers 4-6 of which have produced stone
ash deposit but cave sediment,bone, and otherorganic tools, mammalian fossils, and evidence of firein the
matterthat includes a trace of charcoalizedwood and a formofburnedbones,ash, clay,and stones(Zhang I985 ).
carbonizedleaf. Other chemical analyses on four"ash That the bones are burnedhas been confirmedbychemi-
layersand manyburnedbones, burnedstones,and char- cal analyses indicatingthat theycontain 3.I% carbon.
coal" fromZhoukoudian producedfreecarbon but no At Trinil,Java,where the firstH. erectusfossilswere
iron or manganese (You I986). discoveredby Eugene Dubois in I89I, charredwood was
In contrast,a recentvisual examinationof faunal re- alsofound(OakleyI95 6b:40; I96I:I79). As theregionis
mains fromthe cave indicatesthatmost bones are man- volcanically active, Oakley infersthat it could be the
ganese-stainedand not burned(Binfordand Stone i986). productof naturalfires.Dating of the hominid-bearing
There is some evidence of the controlleduse of fireby depositsin Javais veryproblematic(e.g.,BartstraI978,
hominids in the upper levels (particularlyLevels 3 and Curtis198I, NinkovichandBurckleI978; see Popeand
4). This consists of seven equid upperteeth,some with CroninI984 fordiscussion).Severalpotassium-argonde-
adheringmaxillaryfragments, that appearto have been terminationsinitiallyplaced the "Trinilgravels"(Kabuh
burnedwhile freshin a mannersuggestiveof the roast- Formation)betweeno.5 and o.83 millionyearsB.P., with
ing of ungulate heads at the FrenchMousteriansite of the latterbeingderivedfroman averageoffoursamples
Combe Grenal (cf. BinfordI984: i6o). Although four (JacobI972, 1973). More recently,potassium-argon read-
otherequid teethshow evidenceofburningin the lower ings on a splitofone of these samples provideda date of
levels,Binfordand Stone (I986:460, 467) remainuncon- I.2 millionyearsB.P. (Curtis I 9 81).
vinced that it relates to hominid behavior.Clearly,the Although the evidence fromAsia suggests that fire
entirequestion of the burneddeposits at Zhoukoudian may have been present at several Lower and Middle
needs to be reexamined. Pleistocenesites earlierthanZhoukoudian,the charcoal
Several otherreportedlyearlysites in China appearto or charredbone found at these open sites most likely
indicatethatthe presenceoffireand hominidsat Zhou- was producedby naturalfires.Even if theirassociation
koudian may not be an isolated occurrence.Xihoudu in with the early Paleolithic stone tools is valid, it is
Shanxi Province has produced 30 crude stone imple- difficultto prove that early hominids were the agents
ments and a large fossil vertebrateassemblage froma responsibleforthe fireson the basis of existingdata.
gravelbed in a stratigraphicsection capped by 50 m of
Middle Pleistocene clay (Jia I985). Deer, horse, and
other mammalian bones are black, gray,and grayish- EUROPE
greenand consideredburnedon the basis of laboratory
analyses.Some Chinese researchersfeelthattheburning At least I4 sites in Europe have producedevidence for
was theresultoffireuse byhominidsin the LowerPleis- fireduringthe Middle Pleistocene: Vertesszollos,Hun-
tocene. The faunal assemblage is consideredto be i.O gary;Torralba and Ambrona,Spain; St. Esteve-Janson,
million yearsold, but paleomagneticreadingsindicatea Terra Amata, Abri Vaufrey,Orgnac,Fontechevade,and
date of I.8 million yearsB.P.Anotherproblemconcerns Lazaret, France; La Cotte, Jersey;Swanscombe,Marks
the association of the stone tools and the fauna,since Tey, and Hoxne, England;and PontnewyddCave, Wales.
the artifactsexhibitcharacteristicsofwater-transported The discussion here focusesupon the earlier,morecon-
material.While the artifactdrawingsare difficultto in- troversialsites.

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 JAMES Hominid Use of Fire | 7

Perhapsthe oldest such evidence comes fromVertes- port,and "scatteredwater-wornbone" is reportedto be

szBllos,which yielded a Buda pebble assemblagein the present(FreemanandButzerI966:I2).
contextof a Biharian-stage"cold" fauna (Howell I966, In the lightof this evidence, charcoal foundat these
Kretzoi and Vertes I965). Several patches of burned two Spanishsitesmaywell representdebrisfromnatural
bones constitutethe evidence forfire;no charcoal was fires(see Binfordn.d.a). Apparentlyno analyses of the
present.The site is estimatedto date between 0.3 and charcoalhave been reported,and the presenceofburned
o.6 millionyearson the basis oftheBiharianfaunaand a bones has not, to my knowledge,been mentioned.The
uranium-seriesdate of >0.37 million yearsB.P. (cf.Den- latterwould not necessarilybe presentat a kill site,but
nell I985:35). However,recenturanium-thorium dating ifmeat was beingsmoked or driedas Freemansuggests,
of travertinesfromthe site indicates an absolute age of some burnedbones should be present.
ca. i85,ooo years B.P., much youngerthan the fauna Two sites thathave producedthe earliestevidencefor
(Schwarczand Latham I984). Since the culturalmateri- firein France are Terra Amata and St. Esteve-Janson.
als were recoveredfromtravertinedeposits,it is highly Salvage excavationsin the I96os at TerraAmata,on the
possible that the "charred-boneareas" (Kretzoi and beach at Nice, revealedthe presenceofwhat are consid-
Vertes I965:83-84) representmineral staining from ered to be the earliest structuresin Europe. The site is
groundwater.By way of an example, Cushing et al. datedsome 0.25 to 0.4 millionyearsB.P., althougha
(I986) have recentlydeterminedthat the supposed fire thermoluminescencedate of0.23 millionyearshas been
areas withburnedbones on Santa Rosa Island in Califor- obtained from two burned flints (Wintle and Aiken
nia, thoughtby some to be locations where late Pleis- I977). In additionto the dwellingfoundations,firewas
tocene huntersroasted dwarfmammoths,are probably evident from hearths, charcoal, burned lithics, and
the result of low-temperature(<I00? C) groundwater burnedshell.
processes.The "burned"bones fromVertesszollosmight De Lumley (I969:43) describesthe hearthsas follows:
have resultedfromsimilarprocesses.
A basic featureof each hut is a hearthplaced at the
At Torralba and Ambrona,dated 0.3 to 0.5 million
center.These fireplacesare eitherpebble-pavedsur-
years B.P., excavations over the years have uncovered
face areas or shallow pits,a footor two in diameter,
Acheulian stone tools, the remains of large mammals
scooped out ofthe sand. A littlewall, made bypiling
includingextinctelephant(Elephas),and small amounts
up cobbles or pebbles,standsat the northwestside of
ofcharcoalandwood(ButzerI965; FreemanI975, I978; each hearth.These walls were evidentlywindscreens
Freemanand ButzerI966; Howell I965, I966; Howell, to protectthe fireagainstdrafts,particularlyfromthe
Butzer,and Aguirrei962; Howell and Freemani982). northwestwind thatis the prevailingone at Nice to
One of 28 wood fragmentscollectedby Marques de Cer-
this day.
ralbo at Torralba in the early part of this centuryex-
hibits a darkenedcolor suggestiveof burning(Howell Althoughthis descriptionis a littleimaginativein com-
I966:I38; Howell, Butzer,and Aguirrei962:36). Al- parisonwith a photographofone ofthe hearths(Lumley
thoughthe fireevidenceat Torralbaand Ambronais not I969), it does suggestthatburnedareas are present.Villa
extensive,considerablesignificancehas been assignedto (i983), who has recentlyanalyzed the TerraAmata lith-
it. In a popularbook,Howell (i 965) infersthatH. erectus ics, provides more specific provenience data on the
huntersat the sites were ignitinggrassor brushfiresto hearthsand otherburneditems.Charcoal samples,some
drive elephants and other animals into lakeside bogs identifiedas Pinus sylvestris,were collected fromall
where they were dispatched and then butchered. layers of the deposits (Vernet I975; Villa I983:80).
Freeman(I978:92) interpretsthe burnedareas in Occu- Burned flakes of flintand silicifiedlimestone,two of
pation 8 at Torralbaas "the remainsof a largesmudge- which provided the thermoluminescencedate men-
fire,lit to smoke-drymeat or as an insect repellent." tioned above, are present as well. It is not known
The interpretation of Torralba as an Acheulian kill/ whetherany vertebrateremains are burned; there are,
butcheringsite has recently been criticized. Binford however,several burned mussel (Mytilus edulis) shell
(I98I:I6-I7; n.d.a)arguesthatnaturaltaphonomic pro- fragments(Villa I983:80-8I).
cesses coupledwithhominidscavengingofthe carcasses At the less well-known French site of St. Esteve-
could account for the patterns exhibited at the site. Janson(Escale Cave) in the southernDurance Valley
Similarly, scanning electron microscope analyses of (Boches-du-Rhone), the evidence forfireconsistsof five
bone samples fromboth sites indicate thatthe majority hearthsrepresentedby reddenedareas a meterin diame-
of elephant and mammalian bones exhibit marks of ter,fire-crackedrock, ash, and charcoal (Howell I966:
sedimentaryabrasionand fewtool-inflicted marks(Ship- I09). Paleomagneticanalysisofreddenedsedimentfrom
man and Rose I983). While Shipmanand Rose minimize the cave has tentativelysuggestedthat these areas are
the role of hydraulictransportin producingthe assem- burned(Barbetti et al. I980:299). An earlyCromerian
blages,this evidence stronglysuggeststhatthe bone ac- fauna of Mindel age was recovered,but aside fromthe
cumulations are not as pristine as was originallyin- burnedmaterialsonly a few limestoneflakes comprise
ferred.Indeed,the initialgeomorphicdescriptionsofthe the culturalremainsin the deposits.
Torralba sediments for the units containing cultural Recent analysis of faunal remains from Layer VIII
"horizons" (Units IIb and IIc) are inferredto have been (.235,000 B.P.) ofAbriVaufrey byBinford
(n.d.b)indicates
deposited by colluvial washing and solifluctiontrans- the presenceof several calcined bones among the many

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8 | CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 30, Number I, February1989

manganese-stainedfragments.Binford considers the shifts, West(I956:337; Westand McBurneyI955:I35)

presenceofonlya fewburnedbones consistentwith the inferredfroma single "piece of charcoal" foundin the
absence of any reportby the excavators of hearthsor stratumthat a catastrophicforestfirehad caused an in-
burnedareas. Only in overlyingLayerVII (200,000 B.P.) terglacial deforestation.Moreover, since Acheulian
is thereevidence forregularuse of fireas indicatedby stone tools occurredin the same context,the possibility
largernumbersofburnedbones. Otherlate Middle Pleis- was raised thatthe interglacialvegetationchangeswere
tocene Frenchsites containingevidence of fireinclude produced by hominid-inducedforest fires (West and
Orgnac,Fontechevade,and Lazaret,as well as La Cotte McBurney I955:I39). Thoughthisviewhas foundfavor
de Saint-Brelade (Jersey)off the coast (Cook et al. with some archaeologists(e.g., Jarman,Bailey, and Jar-
i982:54; McBurneyand Callow I97I; ScottI980); the man i982:I36; Oakley i956b:4I; I964; Roe I98I:48;
evidence is summarizedin table i. Wymer I982:I27), West (I956:338) felt that a natural
Excavations at PontnewyddCave near the coastal re- forest fire was a more probable alternative. Turner
sort of Rhyl in northernWales have yielded an Acheu- (I970:429; see also I975:288) has since suggested that
lian stone tool assemblage and severalNeanderthal-like West actually "rejected" the role of humans as a causal
hominid fragments(Green I984, Green et al. I98I). factor in the deforestationwhereas Oakley (I964:65)
Uranium-thorium and thermoluminescence dating later "misinterpreted"West's statements.
techniquesplace the age ofthe site between2oo,ooo and Aside from the single charcoal fragment,no other
250,000 yearsB.P. Fiveburnedstonesfromthreediffer-physicalevidenceforfirewas presentat Hoxne, norwas
ent parts of the cave were submitted for thermolu- any other charcoal found in this portionof the strati-
minescenceanalysis,but onlyone, a flintcore,yieldeda graphicsection (West I956:337). Recent analysis of the
reading-2oo,ooo years.The presenceof burningis not faunalremainsidentifieda fewbones with tool-inflicted
mentionedforthe six fragmentary hominid bones and marksbut no burnedbones (Binford I985:3I6-I7). In
teeth or forthe faunal remains,although some of the contrast, Wymer(i982:I27-28) proposesthattheremay
latterexhibitdark-brown to black stainingwitha crazed be evidence forcooking at Hoxne:
appearance.On the basis of the burnedcore,the investi- a fewconcentrationsof smashed bones were found;
gatorssuggestthat hominidswere using fireduringthe usually a dozen or so pieces ofbackboneor skull frag-
late Middle Pleistocene. ments.Only human selection could account forthis,
The use offireat Swanscombe,Hoxne, and MarksTey and theyformedsuch tight,closelypacked groupsof
has been inferred fromchangesin pollen frequenciesand bones thatit is possible theywere originallywithina
the presenceof minor charcoal fragmentsin the depos- bag of some sort,since perished.Watermay have
its. Further,thisevidenceis consideredbysome to repre- been added to the bag and,held over a fire,a thin
sent intentionalbrush or forestfiresset by Acheulian stew createdfromotherwisenon-nutritious pieces.
huntersfordrivinggame as at Torralba and Ambrona This is ratherfancifulbut otherexplanationsseem
(e.g.,Dennelli983:52; OakleyI964; Wymeri982:I27). equally so.
Swanscombe, on the lower Thames River in Kent,is
best-knownforthe Swanscombe skull, recoveredfrom This reconstruction is fancifulindeed,particularlysince
the Middle Gravels(Ovey I964, J.WymerI955) and thereis only circumstantialevidence thatfirewas used
probablycorrelatedwith oxyen-isotopeStage 9 (0.297- at all.
0.347 million years B.P.) (cf. Green I984:I50). Carbo- Palynologicaldata collected at Marks Tey, Essex, 6o
naceous lumps fromthe same strataas the skull were km fromHoxne, have been inferredto containevidence
determinedby chemical tests to be charredplant mate- of a similar interglacial"deforestation"(Turner I970;
rial producedby mild thermalalteration(Oakley I964). I975:288-89); no archaeological siteis present, thougha
Reddened and crazed flintsfrom the Middle Gravels few handaxes have been collected in the vicinity(Wy-
wereinitiallythoughtto be burned(Oakley I95 6b:4I; B. meri982:I27). The sectionoftheMarksTeypollense-
WymerI955), but uponreconsideration Oakley(I964: quence that is of concernhere is Hoxnian Interglacial
64) judged that therewere no burnedflintsor calcined Subzone Ho IIc. A woodland forestof hazel (Corylus),
bones.5Oakley concluded,however,thatthe charcoalat yew (Taxus), and elm (Ulmus) declines duringthe early
Swanscombewas the resultof firesignitedby hominids portion of this subzone while grasses (Gramineae) in-
fartherup the Thames Valley,since he considerednatu- creasesignificantly. These vegetationchangeshave been
ral grassfiresto be rarein temperateclimates. interpretedas indicatingcatastrophicdeforestation by a
Similar conclusions have been drawnfroma palyno- naturallycaused forestfire,and microscopic charcoal
logical studyofthe interglaciallake depositsat Hoxne in fragmentsobservedin the sedimentsare consideredto
Suffolk.A decreasein arborealpollen and an increasein substantiate this(TurnerI970, I975). Atthesametime,
grassesin StratumE ofthe Hoxne deposits(SubstageIId) however, Turner(I970:430) hintsthatthemacroscopic
indicated a mixed-oak forestrecession that coincided charcoalfromHoxne may be the resultofhominidfires,
with the presence of Acheulian artifacts.Arguingthat a view that is somewhat contradictory to his argument
climatic changes could not account forthe vegetation in favorof naturalforestfires.
On closer examination of the Marks Tey pollen se-
5. In a recentanalysis offaunal remains fromthe Lower Gravels,no quence, it becomes apparentthat,while grasses do in-
bumed bones are mentioned (Binfordi985:3i6-I7). crease dramaticallyin Subzone Ho IIc, birch(Betula)and

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 JAMES Hominid Use of Fire I 9

pine (Pinus) increase as well. Similar increasesin these inid plant fooddiet priorto the use of firehas also been
two treespecies and grassescoincide only at eitherend discussed (Stahl I984). Electronspin resonancespectros-
of the pollen sequence, in Hoxnian InterglacialZones copyhas provedvaluable in evaluatingwhethermateri-
Ho I and Ho IV, followingand precedingglacial condi- als were heated (Hillman et al. I983, Wendorfet al.
tions, respectively (Turner I 970:fig. I5; cf. Wymer I984). More chemical analyses of charcoal,burnedde-
I98.2:fig. 2). Thus, no deforestation actually occurs dur- posits,ash, and stainedbone along the lines of Oakley's
ing Subzone Ho IIc; thereis only a changefroma some- (I954, i956b, I964) research in the I950S can be ex-
what warm temperateforestto a colder forestinter- pected to shed furtherlighton the subject. Pendingthe
spersed with grasslandsfor a briefintervalduringthe outcome of such studies,we can perhapsbeginto assess
mid-Hoxnianinterglacial. the evidence in termsof its diversity.The presence of
In summary,there is little evidence from Swans- only one or two kinds ofevidence at a site may indicate
combe,Hoxne, and Marks Tey thathominidswere even thatfireis a naturaloccurrence;thepresenceofmultiple
usingfire,let alone intentionallysettingfiresin pursuit kindsofevidenceshould suggestcontrolleduse offireby
of.big game. It is difficultenough to make inferences hominidsunless naturalfactorsare suspected.
about natural climatic changes on the basis of pollen The distributionof the various kinds of evidence
samples fromvarious localities in a region(see Currey among sites is shown in figurei. Charcoal is the most
and Jamesi982). To assign culturalmeaningsto these frequentlycited indicationof fireand is representedat
changes fromonly two pollen sequences dated by rela- i6 sites. Hearthsare reportedat io sites,burnedbone at
tive means is even riskier.The charcoalfromthese sites io, burnedlithics at 6, and otherkinds of evidence at 5
is betterviewed as the resultof naturalfirescaused by orfewersites. While different kindsofevidenceare pres-
lightningthan as a reflectionof late Middle Pleistocene ent at several sites, more than halfhave producedonly
huntingstrategies. one kind (fig.2). Seven sites have threeor morekinds of
Omitted from table i are Clacton, England, and evidence: Kalambo Falls, Klasies RiverMouth,Montagu
Lehringen,Germany, which have produced wooden Cave, St. Esteve-Janson,Terra Amata, Zhoukoudian,
spears describedby some prehistoriansas fire-hardened and Jinniushan.
and thus indirectevidenceforMiddle Pleistoceneuse of The southernAfricansites of Kalambo Falls, Klasies
fire.Discovered by Hazzledine Warrenin i 9II at Clac- RiverMouth, and Montagu Cave are relativelylate Mid-
ton-on-Sea,8o km fromLondon,the Clacton spearpoint dle Pleistocene and extend into the Upper Pleistocene.
has in recentyears been foundto show no evidence of Diversityof evidence forfireis to be expected during
hardeningby fire (Oakley et al. I977:I7, 28). The ab- this period fromwhat we know of the abilities of the
sence of burningin the case of the Clacton spear calls hominidsof the time. The absence of earlierconclusive
into question the fire-hardening notedforthe Lehringen evidencein Africahas been consideredthe resultofpoor
spear, recoveredin association with the remains of a charcoalpreservation (Isaac I977:94; I984:36), butthis
straight-tuskedelephant in I948 (Movius 1950). Restudy explanation has not been examined adequately in the
of it along the lines of the Clacton spear analysis is contextofnaturaldepositsfromthe timeperiodin ques-
needed (Oakley et al. I977:28).6 tion. Some research on burned fossilized wood from
Plio/Pleistocenecontextsin Africa,however,is begin-
ningto fillthis gap in our knowledge(Dechamps I984).
Evaluation of the Data The presenceof multiplekinds of evidence forfireat
St. Esteve-Jansonand TerraAmata tentativelysuggests
Evaluation of the suggestions of fire use in the ar- that firewas being used by hominids in Europe some-
chaeological recordfromthe Lower and Middle Pleis- time between0.23 and 0.4 million yearsB.P. Ifa conser-
tocene will requireexperimentaland actualisticstudies vativeapproachto the age ofTerraAmata is taken,then
of natural brush fires,hearths,burnedbone, lightning- theuse offirehereis in line withthe evidencefromlater
caused cave fires,and other burningpatterns.Several Mousterian sites, which have unpreparedhearthssim-
such studies have already produced insightfulresults ilar to the ones found at Terra Amata. It is only in
(Balme ig80, Barbetti i986, Chapman I978, Cushing et the Upper Pleistocene, after the Middle-to-Upper-
al. i986, Dechamps i984, Richteri986, Shipman,Fos- Paleolithic transition,that structuredhearths such as
ter,and Schoeningeri984, WendorfI982).' Earlyhom- the cobble-linedexamples at AbriPataud (Movius I966)
and La Riera (Straus et al. I980; see also Dennell
I985:89) occur in the archaeologicalrecord.
6. Gamble (i987:93-94) calls into questionthe interpretation of The diversityof evidenceforfireat Zhoukoudian and
thesewoodenimplements as spearsandproposesinsteadthatthey
weresnowprobesforlocatingfrozencarcassesduringthe winter Jinniushan sometimebetween400,000 and 5oo,ooo
months.Suchwoodenimplements probablyservedmultiplefunc- yearsago would appear to be too earlyin a comparative
tionsdepending upon the situationalcontext. perspective.There are several ways in which this evi-
7. Thereis also a diverseliteraturefromethnographic accountsand dence mightbe explained.
ethnoarchaeological observations on fireuse amongrecenthunter- First,there is some indication that the evidence for
gatherers, particularlyas relatedto environmental modification
and subsistencetechniques(e.g.,Gould I97I; JonesI975; Lewis fireat Zhoukoudian, at least in the lower levels, is a
I972, I973, i982a; MellarsI976; StewartI956; see also references resultofthe burningofthe depositsand not hominiduse
in Whiteand O'Connell i982:93-94, 2I7). offire(see Binfordand Ho I985, Binfordand Stone I986).

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Io CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 30, Number i, FebruaryI989

20

15

>-U HEARTH
O FIREDROCK
z
w REDAREA
D
BAKEDCLAY
O2: 102 - - q D ASH
10
m
U CHARCOAL
IL FIRED
WOD
/vl BURNEDLITHIC
3
Ba RNEDBONE
El BURNEDSHELL
* BURNED DEPOSIT
5

TYPE OF FIRE EVIDENCE

FIG. i. Distributionof typeoffireevidence byfrequencyfromLower and Middle Pleistocenesites.

Whetherthe firewas naturalor hominid-inducedcannot mightconclude thatearlyhominidswereresponsiblefor

be determinedat present,but it is known that when
organic-rich depositsin caves are ignitedtheymay burn
for several years. Hutchinson (I 950:396) notes that a
cave in Blanco County,Texas, was set on firebya hunter
in the late igth centuryand burnedfortwo years.Else-
where,the 40,000-year-olddepositsof RampartCave in
northernArizona, which contained considerablequan-
tities of late Pleistocene groundsloth (Nothrotheriops
shastensis) dung,were ignitedby vandals in I976 and
continuedto smoulderfora yeardespiteefforts to extin-
guish the fire(Kurtenand Andersonig80:48). Similarly,
I have observedseveralcaves in the GreatBasin ofNorth
America with late Pleistocene and Holocene deposits
that were burned in modern times. One in particular,
LadderCave in easternNevada (Curreyand James1982),
had a meteror more of burnedfillextendingdownward
from the present cave floor; indurated wood rat
(Neotoma sp.) middens fromanotherpart of the cave
yielded radiocarbondates of at least 27,000 years B.P.
(Thompsonand Mead i982). The burningof cave depos-
its in both the Old and New Worlds undoubtedlyoc-
curredin the past. If a cave with burneddepositswere
excavated that also contained evidence of early homi-
nids and we did not know the date of the burning,we
the fire.This is the conclusion some paleoanthropolo-
gistsinitiallydrewfromthe depositsin Cave ofHearths
and Montagu Cave. Such a situation is probable for
Zhoukoudian, yet until recentlyfew have questioned
the evidence forfireat this site.
Caves have been observedto "breatheout," the result
offallingatmosphericpressureduringstorms(Lawrence
I95 5: I 54): "Thisoutwardsurgeofcaveairmaybe aided
by risingtemperaturesaround the cave mouth. Free at-
mosphericconvectionhelps to extendthis ionized col-
umn furthertowards thunderclouds,and electric dis-
chargesare thenled to the openingofthe cave. Duringa
thunderstorm, one of the explorersof the Henne-Morte
was struckat a depth of 200 feet." The extentof this
phenomenon needs to be furtherexamined. As Brain
(i967:294) has suggestedforCave of Hearths,lightning
strikesmay be responsiblefor some conflagrationsin
caves thathave previouslybeen attributedto earlyhom-
inids.
Anotherexplanation with regardto Zhoukoudian is
that not all of the materials are in fact burned.Man-
ganese staining and other chemical alterations may
have createdpseudoburningin the case ofbones and ash.
Binfordand Stone (I986:467) note that most of the

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 JAMES Hominid Use of Fire ii

25-

20

cn
w 15
I-
cn
U.
0
w
10
z

5 -

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

OCCURRENCE OF FIRE EVIDENCE

FIG. 2. kinds offireevidence bynumberofLower and Middle
Distributionof occurrenceof different
Pleistocenesites.

bones fromthe cave thatChinese archaeologistsshowed Comments

them duringtheir I985 visit were mineral-stainedand
not burned.
Finally,it is possible thathominiduse offireoccurred R.W. DENNELL
earlierin China than elsewhere.The controlleduse of DepartmentofArchaeologyand Prehistory,University
firemay be an aspect ofthe overwintering problem(Bin- of Sheffield,SheffieldSIO 2TN, England. i viii 88
fordI985:3 I4; Watanabe i985:ii) involvedin the adap-
tationofearlyhominidsto northerntemperatelatitudes James's review is timely and useful in showing how
aftertheyradiatedout of sub-SaharanAfrica.EarlyMid- tenuous the evidence is forthe use of fireby hominids
dle Pleistocene fireuse has also figuredin a proposed beforethe Upper Pleistocene. I agree with the overall
hominidadaptationforAsia based on a nonlithictech- directionof his arguments,that thereis verylittle evi-
nologythatemployedfirein manufacturing bamboo and dence indeedthatfirewas used in the LowerPleistocene
otherwooden implements(Pope and Cronin i984:389). and little evidence forits controlledand systematicuse
Beforewe can begin to model such behavior,we must until late in the Middle Pleistocene. He should, how-
determinewhetherfirewas actuallypresentat theseand ever, have made it clearer in his conclusions that the
othersites in the Middle Pleistoceneand whetherhomi- evidence forthe use of fireis both directand indirect.
nids were using it. His figuresare particularlymisleadingin that theyim-
ply that all of his criteriaare of equal value. It would
have been better if he had separated the evidence of
Conclusion hearths-his only direct and unambiguous criterion-
fromhis other six criteria,which are indirectand cir-
I have indicatedin this reviewthatthe evidenceis tenu- cumstantial.He should also have distinguishedin his
ous and pointedto areas in which middle-rangestudies figuresbetween cave and open-airsites. Whilst these
are requiredbeforean objective assessmentof hominid amendmentswould not have altered his conclusions,
fireuse in the Lower and Middle Pleistocene can be they would at least have shown how little directevi-
made. Thoroughand rigorousreexaminationof the evi- dence thereis fortheuse offireand how much it is based
denceis neededbeforewe can make further claims about on data fromcaves.
the role of firein shapingour earlydevelopment. What, then, are the implicationsof his conclusions?

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I1 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 30, Number i, FebruaryI989
One is thatthebehaviouraldistinctivenessofearlyhom-
inidsis furtherdiminished.In recentyears,we have seen
the erosionofmanyideas about hominid"uniqueness":
first the discovery that chimpanzees make and use
wooden tools, that orang-utanscan-if suitably per-
suaded-make stone ones, and that hominidsprobably
did not hunt systematicallyuntillate in theirevolution.
More recently,we have realised the surprisinglyclose
geneticresemblancesbetweenus, gorillas,and chimpan-
zees (e.g., Diamond i988) and the likelihood that early
hominidtool makingwas not verydistinctivefromthat
ofthe chimpanzeetoday.Indeed,McGrew's (i987) paper
is worthcitingin showingthe close similaritiesin tool-
makingactivitiesbetweenchimpanzeesand Tasmanian
aborigines.A fewyearsago, thismighthave been seen as
racist and reminiscentof Sollas's portrayalof Tasma-
nians as Neanderthal-likeliving fossils: now it serves
only to reinforcethe behavioural as well as genetic
similaritiesbetween us and the apes. James'sreview is
in keepingwith these trendsin thatearlyhominids,like
theirhominidor pongidcousins (dependingon how one
classes the chimpanzee),did not make or use firesys-
tematically.The result of all this is to emphasise the
importanceofthelate Middle Pleistocenein human evo-
lution: the behavioural complex involvingsystematic
hunting,the controlledand regularuse of fire,and the
use ofhome bases (as initiallyconceivedbyIsaac [I978])
maybe unique to Homo sapiens and not to earliertypes.
Afterreadingthis article,I remainuncertainas to the
fate of Oakley's (i 956b) ideas that the colonisation of
temperatelatitudesofEurope and Asia dependedon the
controlleduse of fire and that this developed firstin
Eurasia. In termsof the data presentedby James,these
views can stillbe maintained,butonlyjust. The bestevi-
dence,in the sense of multipleindicatorsof fire,comes
from sites that are both Eurasian and Middle Pleis-
tocene: Zhoukoudian (all seven criteria),St. Esteve-
Janson(five),Jinniushan(four),and Terra Amata (four).
The only African site which matches this patternis
Klasies River Mouth, later in date and with only four
criteria.Curiously,thereis a gap in the Eurasiandata,as
the onlysites with threelines ofdata forfireare the two
Africanones of Kalambo Falls and Montagu Cave. As
Jamessuggests,Zhoudoudian should be leftin suspense
at present until a thoroughreexaminationhas been
made and published. If one takes hearths as the only
unambiguousindicator,the same patternprevails,as the
only clear Africanexamples (excludingthe dubious ex-
ample fromOlorgesailie)are fromKlasies RiverMouth
and Florisbad,both of which are youngerthan the six
Europeanexamples he mentions.
However, there may well be a bias here in our evi-
dence fromAfrica.In the firstplace, most of the early
Africansites are ephemeralopen-airones, where char-
coal and ash could easily have been blown away,unlike
the caves thatdominatethe evidencefromEurasia. Sec-
ondly,there are now veryfew AfricanMiddle Pleisto-
cene sites, as ones such as Olorgesailie and Kilombe
have been redatedto the late Lower Pleistocene. (Gow-
lett [I9871 asks, "What importantAfricansites can be
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in the period700,000-300,000
placed with certainty
yearsago?") The absence ofpertinentdata fromAfrican
Middle Pleistocene sites may thereforeindicate an ab-
sence of early- to mid-Middle Pleistocenesites and not
just an absence ofsites withtherightpreservationalcon-
texts.It may therefore be prematureto concludethatfire
was firstcontrolledin Eurasia.
But if the patternholds and firewas not used any-
where beforethe mid-Middle Pleistocene,how impor-
tantmightit have been in earliertimes?The intriguing
issue is whetherthere might have been a more than
fortuitousassociation between natural firesand homi-
nid activities. Early hominids might have benefitted
fromnaturalbush firesin severalways. One is by gain-
ing access to otherwise inedible or poisonous plant
foods,if,as Leopoldand Ardrey
(I972) and Stahl(i984)
suggest,many plant toxins and fibrescould not have
been broken down without fire. Other possibilities
mighthave been by catchinganimals thatwere tryingto
escape froma bush fire,by scavengingcarcasses of ani-
mals thatdied in fires,by havingeasier access to below-
ground-if somewhat scorched-resources after the
groundfoliagehad been burntoff,byhuntingor scaveng-
ing animals that were feeding off the regenerating
foliage,and perhaps by taking the firsttentativesteps
towardscooking.In time,thesepracticesmighthave led
to hominids' aiding and abettingnatural outbreaksof
fire.The criticalleap herewould probablyhave been the
developmentofways of storingfireby encouragingit to
burn slowly, by adding fuel until it was needed else-
where, and by devising ways of transportingit. Ideas
such as theseare,ofcourse,easy to formulatebut almost
impossible to test (as James shows for the Torralba,
Hoxne, and Marks Tey evidence). One particularlydif-
ficult issue is the time intervalbetween fireresidues
(e.g.,burntclay pellets)and hominiddiscard;ifthelatter
is unburntand on a burntsuface,the time lapse may be
considerable and the association entirely fortuitous.
However, even if Palaeolithic remains are foundburnt
and withinor on a burntsurface,the firemay well have
occurredafterhominids had moved elsewhere. In my
view, it will be veryhard to demonstratea causal rela-
tionshipbetweenfireand earlyhominidsites (especially
open-air ones) that lack evidence of hearths or burnt
bone withoutfirstshowingthatnaturalfireswere most
unlikely to have occurred spontaneously.Given that
thereare an estimatedioo lightningdischargesoverthe
Earth'ssurfaceper second (Patterson,Edwards,and Ma-
guirei987), this could well be hardto do. Whatis clearly
needed is very thoroughattentionto the taphonomic
processes resultingin the preservationand distribution
of both burntand unburntmaterialswithinearlyhomi-
nid sites. In this respect,a lead could be taken fromthe
recent critique by Patterson, Edwards, and Maguire
(i987) of the use ofmicroscopiccharcoal as an indicator
of fire; similar studies could begin by looking at how
oftenand at what time ofyearfiresoccurrednaturallyin
different typesof environmentand over what area, and
forhow long, theirresiduesmightlast.
On currentevidence,it seems that the controlleduse
 JAMES Hominid Use of Fire I I3

of firefor domestic purposes (warmth,cooking,light, he proposesfinallythat the strongestcases forhominid

protectionagainstpredators,signalling,etc.) dates from exploitationwill probablybe those deposits in which
the last quarter-millionyears (or possibly less) and is many lines of evidence converge.
largelyassociated with archaicformsofH. sapiens. This Ultimately,carbonizationand baked earthmaybe pro-
point implies that prehistoriansshould distinguishbe- duced both naturallyand artificially,and so it is not
tween the opportunisticusage of fireforexploitingthe necessarilythe evidence of burningthat counts but the
environmentand the deliberateuse of firein domestic contextin which the burningis found.The matterof
contexts;the formermay have occurredbefore250,000 context is not directlyaddressed in James'spaper, al-
years ago but will be veryhard to demonstrate,whilst thoughmany of the points raised are related.This com-
the latteris demonstrablebut not evidenceduntil well ment introducesthe contextualdimensioninto the dis-
afterthat time. cussion by illustratingtwo of the major difficultiesin
Some otherpointscan also be made on thisarticle:(i) evaluatingit.
Yuanmou in China would seem to be Middle Pleisto- First,hominid sites of the Lower to Middle Pleisto-
cene in date (Pope I985). (2) Two-million-year-old ar- cene are frequentlyformedfromreworkedsediments.
tefactshave been reportedin a good contextfromnorth- Erosion, transport,and differential secondaryredeposi-
ern Pakistan (Rendell et al. I987, Dennell, Rendell,and tion displace artifactsand obliteratefeaturesthatwould
Hailwood i 988a), so we should allow forthe possibility perhaps have suggesteda greaterdegree of functional
thattherewere late Pliocene tool makersoutsideAfrica organizationin their intact state. For example, a few
even iftheyare at presentunknown.(3) As Jamesnotes, burned bones embedded in ancient lakeside tributary
stone tools were found with the remains of Australo- channel sedimentsdo not offerany real hope of being
pithecus boisei at Chesowanja and Koobi Fora (FxJj2oE) linked to a hominid origineven if they did indeed so
and with Paranthropusrobustus at Swartkrans;yet the originate.By contrast,in situ charcoal concentrations
consensus is that they (and presumablyother archae- and their scatters on occupation surfacesmight have
ological residues)fromthese sites resultedfromthe ac- been caused by naturalburningof an abandonedcamp-
tivities of Homo. Susman (i988) has argued that the site, yet the still intact deposit providesevidence with
newlyfoundhand bones fromSwartkransshows thatP. which the taphonomiccircumstancesmay be studiedin
robustuswas capable of makingtools; perhapsAfrican- theirprimarycontext.Withoutresortingto speculation,
ists should face up to what I once called "the awesome gauging the possibility of fire use in disturbedsites
prospect" (Dennelli983:32) thattheearliestarchaeolog- would probablyrequirea findspotwithsuch minordam-
ical recordmay be composite and thatA. robustus and age fromnatural forces that an excavator could infer
H. habilis may both have been stone tool makers (and fromthe disintegrating patternthe initial arrangement.
perhapsalso opportunisticcarnivores),albeit to differing The chances offindingan intactprimarycontextdimin-
extentsand with different abilities.What the earlyAfri- ish greatlywithincreasingage ofa site,and therefore the
can data do seem to show is thatrobustusoccasionally best evidence will probablybe hard to find.
died near areas of natural burningand near discarded Second, earlyhominidlivingspace is likelyto be less
items of struckstone and animal bone. Whilstassocia- structuredthan that of late prehistorictimes. Without
tionscan be explainedin severalways,theydo not seem thekindsofdeliberatelybuiltcontainmentareas that,in
firmreasonsforconcludingthatrobustuswas not a tool association with burned artifactsand oxidized sedi-
maker, did not eat meat, or, for that matter,did not ments, signal the presence of what we call hearths,
exploitthe opportunitiescreatedby naturalbush fires. campfires,or cook pits, it becomes potentiallymore
difficultto identifyartificialfireseven when findsare
preservedin primarycontext.For certaintimes or kinds
ALLAN S. GILBERT of site, then, expectation of special-functioninstalla-
Departmentof Sociologyand Anthropology, Fordham tions may be unwarranted.Further,sites visited inter-
University, Bronx,N.Y. I0458, U.S.A.23 viii 88 mittentlyover long periods by one or many hominid
groups,each utilizing site space differently with each
Fire is a naturallyoccurringchemical reaction.Because visit,could generatean amorphousspreadof numerous
it had a numberof uses, it was apparentlycapturedand overlappingcampfiresthat mightbe difficultto distin-
maintained by our early ancestors,who subsequently guish fromcave sediments naturallyset alight. Post-
developedthe means to createit on theirown. The pa- depositionaldisturbancesand episodesofreburialwould
leoanthropologicalproblemin tracingthe historyoffire only add to the complexity.
as an artifactis largelya taphonomicone and involves Recognizing early use of fire will likely consume
recognizingwhen the evidenceforancientfireindicates much effortand requiremore evidence than thatof the
human control and when it indicates natural occur- burnedsubstances alone. Actualistic taphonomicstud-
rence. Jamesis appropriatelycriticalof tenuous claims ies that servethe cause of middle-rangetheorydevelop-
forearlyuse offire,and his reviewof the literaturetries ment should help to focus attentionon the criticalhu-
to show that many reportsof fire in the Paleolithic man aspects of firemaking and firetendingthat could
record have not adequately demonstrateda hominid help to distinguishartificialfromnaturalfires,but ex-
connection.He correctlyasks formore rigoroustesting cavatorswill still need a strategythat marshalsseveral
of excavated materialssuspected to be fire-related, and methodsofmaterialsanalysisand considerstaphonomic

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I4 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 30, Number i, FebruaryI989

informationforthe site in general beforean informed
judgmenton a particularcase can be made. Initially,one
will need to confirmthe presenceof burningby chemi-
cal, paleomagnetic,or electron-spin-resonance analysis.
If the nature of the deposit is not apparent,microsedi-
mentologicalinvestigation(e.g.,Goldberg1980, Courty,
Goldberg,and MacPhail I989) of the immediatelysur-
roundingmatrixmightindicate whetherburneditems
remainin primaryburial contextor in a subsequenthy-
draulic, aeolian, or colluvial phase of redeposition.If
originalsite surfacehas survived,spatial analysis and
studyof sedimentcomponentsbecome importanttools
in understandingfireplacement,extentofhearthprepa-
ration,frequencyor duration of burning,variation in
fueltype,etc. Anatomicalidentification ofcombustibles
throughcharcoalor phytolithexaminationand compari-
son of the geobotanical or zoogeographicalhabitat of
identifiedspecies with the paleoenvironmentofthe site
catchmentarea could then furnishthe minimallynec-
essary data for properevaluation of the possibilityof
hominidinvolvementin the settingor care and feeding
of the fire.
J. A. J. GOWLETT
InstituteofPrehistoricSciences and Archaeology,
UniversityofLiverpool,P.O. Box I47, Liverpool
L69 3BX, England. 27 viii 88
sityof locatingand investigatingnew sites of the same
periodwherethereis well-preserved and in situ evidence
ofhominidoccupation." Nevertheless,the largenumber
of Lower and Middle Pleistocene sites with some evi-
dence ofburningmakes me highlysceptical of the view
that the most "parsimonious" explanation is natural
burning,even forthe earlyAfricansites.
James twice refersto distances on the ground at
Chesowanja. In themselvesthese distancesgiveno good
measure of association. Fragmentsof australopithecine
craniumbelongingto the same specimenwere foundon
the surfaceat about is m and about 25 m fromthe i /6E
site. As the ChemoigutFormationsedimentsslope only
gentlyin this area, thereis no available source forthe
hominid remains except sediments at much the same
level as the archaeologicalhorizon.Of course,thisis not
a direct association. Although the Chesowanja basalt
formationoutcropsabout 2oo m fromthe site with the
burnedclay, the basalt flow is 50 m or more higherin
the local sequence (cf.Bishop,Pickford,and Hill I978).
The law of superpositionrules out incorporationof clay
baked by the basalt in the i/6E site. The absence of
Chesowanja basalt in the site confirmsthe point. Al-
thoughwe ourselves mentionedthe possibilityof vol-
canic heating(Gowlettet al. I 98 I), directheatingbylava
is by farthe least likelyof any possible naturalexplana-
tions forthe fire.

Plainly evidence related to burning,in some formor HENRY T. LEWIS

other,is presenton a high proportionof early archae- DepartmentofAnthropology,UniversityofAlberta,
ological sites. The problemis how to advance beyonda Edmonton,Alta., Canada T6G 2H4. 2i vii 88
generalstatementofthis kind.The difficulties of study-
ingfirefromits scantyremainshave been exploredelse- Except fora few specificcriticismsof the existingevi-
where (e.g., Perles I975). This article is useful for its
dence,James'sargumentdoes not convinceme thatthe
tabulationof basic data, but it also servesto emphasise
claim forthe use of firein the Lower and Middle Pleis-
the scale of the task beforeus. toceneis wrong.I see nothingparticularlyremarkablein
Jamesreportsthat "Gowlett et al. (I98I, I982) claimthe idea thatHomo erectuswould have used fireeven if
that hominidswere using and controllingfireI .42 mil-aeons away frombeing able to make fireor use it to
lion years ago at Chesowanja." The use of the word manage resources with the insights and effectiveness
"claim" cuts corners.There is no reasonabledoubtthat characteristicof contemporaryforagers(see Boyd i986;
thereis burntmaterialon the i/6E site at Chesowanja. Hallam I 975, I985; Haynes I982, I983; Jones I980;
The difficulty KimberI983; Lewis I973, i982b; Timbrook,Johnson,
lies in evaluatingthe likelihoodofhuman
control.The key paragraphin our I98I reportis as fol-and Earle i983). It is difficultto accept that an animal
lows: withthe mental capacityand physicaldexterityto make
even the simpleststone tools would not have recognized
Althoughnaturalphenomenasuch as bush fires,
the advantages of using fire-to heat and illuminate
lightningstrikes,and even volcanic heatingcould
caves or open sites, not to mention cookingfood or af-
explain the burntclay at Chesowanja,we are con-
fecting plantsand animals-and been able to maintainit
vinced,fromexaminationofthe whole occurrencein
and move it fromplace to place.
situ,thathominidactivityis a much more likelyex-
I agree with Jamesthat the evidence he criticizesis
planation.Thus the new find,togetherwith the more
"circumstantial," but I had assumed thatall archaeolog-
tentativeevidencefromothersites,greatlystrength-
ical evidence was. In this respect,his suggested"possi-
ens the hypothesisthatby I.4 Myrhominidswere
bility of lightning-causedcave fires" is circumstantial
using and controllingfire.
indeed. As it is in all of science, it is the probabilityof
It is vital that we have the freedomto talk in terms possible events that concerns us, and the probability
of "hypotheses,""strengthenedhypotheses,"and even that charcoal representsman-made fireswithin caves
"workinghypotheses"without others' overlookingthe is infinitelygreaterthan that it representslightning-
cautionarywords.As we concluded,"the paucityofevi- caused fires.In the absence of (any?)verifiedlightning-
dence bearingon thesehypothesesunderlinesthe neces- caused cave fires,Jameshas to providemore substantial

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evidence than his repeated assertion that lightning
"may" have been the cause. Lawrence (I953) is the one
authoritythat he refersto otherthan Brain (i967), who
also bases his assertion of the possibilityof lightning-
caused cave fireson Lawrence's brief"note." Lawrence,
however,though brieflymentioninglightningstrikes,
says nothing about lightning-causedfireswhile com-
mentingthat the microclimatesof caves include high
humidities("usually above go percent" [p. I 53]) and low
temperatures, not ideal conditionsforignition.
Most lightningstrikesin fact do not cause fires.Ac-
cordingto Pyne (i982:9), most firesare caused by "hot
lightning"(knownalso as "long-lastingcurrent"),which
accountsforabout 2o% ofall cloud-to-ground discharges
in the NorthernRockies whereas "cold lightning"ac-
counts for the remaining 8o%. According to unpub-
lishedsourcesfromthe AlbertaForestService,duringthe
two months(usually Julyand August)in which electri-
cal storms occur here, the ratio of strikesto firescan
varyfromas much as i: i to I,ooo: i or none depending
upon the object struck, the fuel conditions, and the
weather. Given the microclimaticconditions of caves
and the fuelsinvolved,the frequenciesof ignitionmust
be extremelylow. The suggestionof lightning-caused
cave firesis a remotelypossible but clearlyunlikelyex-
planationforprehistoriccharcoal remains.
A functional-causalrelationshipbetweenthepresence
of human/culturalremainsand charcoal in a cave is no
less likely than the association of human/culturalre-
mains and charcoal would be anywhereelse and in fact
undoubtedlymore so. Even in the absence of human/
culturalremains,theprobabilitythatcharcoalanywhere
is a consequence of human activitiesis fargreaterthan
that it has natural causes. All in all, humans are much
morereliablethan naturein ignitingfiresin or transfer-
ringthem to caves. Man-made (or transported) firesare
consciouslyacted upon, theirsites are purposefullyse-
lected,theyhave an extremelyhighprobabilityofbeing
ignited (with several tries if necessary),and the pyro-
technics can be repeatedfordays, weeks, and years on
end.As Lawrence(I 935:I55) says,"themeteorological New World as well as that of the Old. Most American
conditionspeculiar to caves-the constant damp cold
and still,quiet darkness"-make themplaces in which
we would not expect to find even the least neurologi-
cally developedrepresentatives ofour genus unless they
used fire.
James can also be faulted for what he infersabout
grasslandfires.As a numberofwritershave emphasized
(ArthurI975; Day I953; Harris I984; Sauer I950, I956;
Stewarti955; Welles I970), manyifnot most grasslands
are a functionof human uses offireand not merelythe
consequence of natural firesand edaphic factors.Even
lightning-causedprairie fires are relativelyinfrequent
(Rowe I969). In the absence of man-made firesmost
grasslandsquicklyrevertto brushand trees.I also findit
difficultto believe that, however improvidentprehis-
torichumans may have been,H. erectuswould not have
exploitedand helped maintainecotones and grasslands.
Alongwithotherearly-succession,opportunisticanimal
species,earlyman must have been able to recognizethe
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JAMEs Hominid Use of Fire I I5
advantagesoffire-modified habitats,whethertheresults
of natural or accidental fires,and unlike otheranimals
he would have been able to extend and intensifysuch
conditionsby simplytransferring firefromone area to
another.
The simplestand most effectiveway ofexploitingani-
mals with fireis to burn a varietyof places, creatinga
more complex fire mosaic than exists naturally,and
thenhuntthe animals thatfrequentsites havingvegeta-
tionat variousstagesoffire-induced succession.As with
otherpredatorsthat "know" theirprey,this requiresa
knowledgeofplant-animalassociations,and it certainly
seems reasonableto assume thatearlyhominidswere at
least as intelligentas other predatorsthat hunt in se-
lected habitatsand places. Add to this the abilityto af-
fectsuch habitatsand places with fireand we surelydo
have one of the "most importantextrasomaticmile-
stones" in human evolution.
It was undoubtedlymodernman who developed the
formsof habitat burningthat are sharplydistinctfrom
natural firepatterns,for example, in seasonality,fre-
quency, selection of sites, and intensity(Lewis i 982a)
and in the formationof yards,corridors,and mosaics
(Lewis and Fergusoni988). I agree with Jamesthat the
earlier explanations of fire uses depend on "tenuous
lines of evidence." Althoughproponentsof the earlier
uses offirewill undoubtedlyneverprovidethenecessary
"smoking gun" (or, in this case, "smouldering fire-
stick") to make the case forLower and Middle (or even
Upper) Pleistocene uses of controlledfire,the probabil-
ity that earlyhominids employedfiresin caves, camp-
sites, and fieldsis infinitelygreaterthan that theydid
not.
THOMAS F. LYNCH
DepartmentofAnthropology, McGraw Hall, Cornell
University,Ithaca, N.Y. I4853, U.S.A. i8 viii 88
There are implicationshere forthe archaeologyof the
archaeologists had assumed that Middle Pleistocene
controloffirewas well established,and a fewhave even
been industriouslysearchingforsites in the Americas,
at the same time depth,with this telltale sign of hu-
man presence. The resultingforcedscenarios,exciting
thoughtheymay be, are even less satisfyingherewhere
more parsimonious nonculturalexplanations seem so
much more likely. James'scritical review of supposed
earlycontroloffirein the Old Worldwill be a real boon
to Americanarchaeologists,who will no longerbe under
such pressureto show that dubious early artifactsare
not associatedwithburnedearth,charcoal,or even man-
rocks(cf.CarterI950,
ganese-stained I980). Conversely,
forthose who believe firmlyin Lower and Middle Pleis-
tocene controlof fire,the Americasno longerpresenta
cleanly negativecontrolcase.
At Esperanca Cave in Brazil,where Maria Beltraobe-
gan work in I985, a mere i-i.s-m deposit has yielded
dates rangingfrom2,o2o ? I 30 B.P. (byradiocarbonon
i6 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 30, Number i, FebruaryI989

the topmost level) to 204,000-295,000 years (by the morelikelynaturalcauses (Bischoff, Ikeya,and Budinger
uranium-thorium-decay method on the lowest level). I984, Cushing et al. I986). Justas formalhearthsenter
The gamma-rayspectrometry, accomplishedat Gif-sur- the Old World recordonly in Neanderthalcontextsat
Yvette, and alpha-rayspectrometry, fromLos Angeles the startof the Upper Pleistocene,theyappearsuddenly
and Menlo Park,show good agreementand weredone on in the Americas, accompanied by indubitable stone
threepieces of fossil bone. The fauna includes extinct tools,onlyin the Paleo-Indianhorizon,at the end ofthe
horsesas well as a fewbones ofextinctsloth,armadillo, Pleistocene. We need a studyequivalent to the one by
camelid, and perhapsbear (Beltraoand Danon I987, de Jameson the reportsofUpperPleistocenecontroloffire
Lumley et al. I988). in the New World.
The Franco-Brazilianresearch team recognizes two
quartzite pebble tools and a chopper fromthe lowest
level (IV), in addition to a hammerstoneand several W. C. MC GREW
flakesfromLevels II-IV. The line drawingsof the "ar- DepartmentofPsychology,Universityof Stirling,
tifacts"suggestthat theyare verysimple,althoughBel- StirlingFK9 4LA, Scotland. 28 VII 88
trio and Danon (I987) state that at least one is specifi-
cally Clactonian in type. They also claim bone tools, Jamesis to be commendedforthis comprehensiveyet
human dentalmoulds (?), campfirestructures,and char- concise review on the originsof the use of firein the
coal fromall levels, although no mention is made of Pleistocene. The collation and critical scrutinyof the
these in the I988 Frenchpublication.Most significant, evidence will be useful to a wide rangeof prehistorians
both reportsindicate that the quartz and quartzite at and should affectthe "received" treatmentof the topic
Esperancaare froman outcrop io km fromthe cave. in textbooks.However,his evaluation of the data raises
Accordingto these investigators,"It is of course not some questions:
surprisingthat Homo erectus,who occupied the conti- i. Jamesjuxtaposes fromthe outset two alternatives:
nentofChina fromat least 700,000 yearsago ... and had natural, noncultural,uncontrolledfire,as exemplified
domesticated fire 400,000 years ago (Zhoukoudian), by a lightning-ignited bush fire,and human, cultural,
would have crossedthe BeringStraita numberoftimes" controlledfire,as exemplifiedby use of a hearth.Im-
(de Lumley et al. i988:245, translationmine).' We have plicit is the idea that controlof fireappearedonly after
a problemhere. Are we to use Esperanca Cave as rein- the emergenceof the hominids. This dichotomydoes
forcementforthe thesisofMiddle Pleistocenecontrolof not allow forthe possibilityof cultural and controlled
fire,which would surelyhave been necessaryto cross but prehumanuse of fire,such as by an ancestralape.
the BeringianNorth,whetheror not thereare hearths 2. James rightlyfocuses fromthe beginningon the
with the claimed artifactsat Esperanca,or do we take controloffire.(Presumablythisis the same as Clark and
the currentskepticismabout systematiccontrolof fire Harris's[I985:I9] predeterminedas opposedto opportu-
in the Middle Pleistoceneas groundsforquestioningthe nisticuse offire.)In reviewingthe oftenscantyevidence
cultural nature of the remains in Brazil? Most Ameri- available, however, he seems to change the criterion
canists will take the lattercourse. fromcontrol of to use of or association with fire.In
De Lumleyet al. buttresstheircase forthe earlyoccu- many cases, the problemis even more serious,that of
pation ofEsperancaCave withrecentshakyclaims from determiningwhetherthereis any evidence of fireat all.
Piaui in the Brazilian Northeast (human presence as By the time the summaryfigurei is presented,only i
earlyas 32,000-40,000 B.P. [Guidonand Delibrias I986]), (hearth)ofthe i i criteriais unequivocal evidenceofcon-
the claimed association of man and mammothon Santa trol,while the other io would seem to show probabili-
Rosa Island, and the supposed Middle Pleistocene hu- ties of controlrangingfromzero (forcharcoal)to some-
man occupation of the Calico Hills alluvial fan,also in thingunquantifiedbut higher(forfire-hardened wood).
southernCalifornia.To these the Franco-Brazilianteam Clarificationwould be helpfulas to how one operation-
mightwell add the recentlypublishedpossibilityfrom ally inferscontrolfromthe archaeologicalrecord.
Chile, whereat Monte Verdesimple stone artifactsmay 3. The questionofcontrolledbut nonhumanuse offire
be associated with fire at 33,000 to as much as 40,000 is not just a hypotheticalone. Brink(I957) has reported
yearsago (Dillehay and Collins i988:i52). Brazil,Chile, that cigarette-smokingchimpanzees in the Johannes-
and southernCaliforniahave a lot in common. I have burgZoo regularlymaintainedand extinguishedfirein
much troublewith all of these putative cases of early pursuitof theiraddiction. Chimpanzees being rehabil-
human occupation and fire use in America and have itated into the wild in Senegal managed campfiresin
expressedmy doubts and criticismsfully(Lynchn.d.). a rudimentaryway for cooking and warmth (Brewer
The Santa Rosa and Calico claims have been thoroughly I978:I74, I76). They also collected roastedwild seeds
discreditedand nearly universallyrejected, the "evi- afterbush fires(p. 232). In none of these cases were the
dence" forfirehavingbeen accountedforby simplerand apes taughtby humans; rather,theyspontaneouslyim-
itatedhuman models or inventedthepractices.Whether
wild chimpanzees naturally(or culturally?)make con-
I. "II n'y a donc rien d'etonnant a ce que Homo erectus qui oc-
cupait le continentchinois depuis au moins 700,000 ans ... et qui a
trolledor uncontrolleduse of fireis an open question.
domestique le feu depuis 400,000 ans (Chou-Kou-Tien), ait franchi Few field studies of apes have been done in areas in
a plusieurs reprisesl'isthme de Bering." which seasonal firesoccur, and these (e.g., Gombe, Mt.

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 JAMES Hominid Use of Fire I I7

Assirik) have not focused on responses to fire. This dence and inferenceof the various writers,many of
should be done. Also, it should be easy enough to pre- which seem poorlydeveloped if not fallacious.
sent captive chimpanzees with opportunitiesto use fire This area of inquiryapparentlystill suffersfrombla-
in specified(and safe!) settings. tant advocacy-a blessing,perhaps,in comparisonwith
4. Use of data fromlivinghominoidsmay sharpenthe more subtle forms of nonevaluation. The concept of
modellingof the evolution of fireuse. For example, in proofis sometimesinvoked,oddly,withoutthe accom-
theirarrayofopportunisticuses offire,Clark and Harris panyingconcept of "beyond a reasonable doubt." Reli-
(i985:i9) concentrateon animal foods made available abilityis rarelyan explicitconsideration.The evidence
afterbush fires,such as fallen bees' nests, burnt ter- for burningcan be "appeared to be burned" or "color
mitaries,suffocatedburrowinganimals,and carcassesof suggestiveofburning."Moreover,expertopinionsbased
largeranimal victims.Brewer'schimpanzeesat Mt. As- on visual inspectionappearto be assignedthe same fac-
sirik (though otherwise eaters of bees, termites,and tual status as the resultsof laboratorytests. This leads
mammals)showednone ofthishypothesisedscavenging us to a number of technical questions, for example,
for animal prey. Instead, they collected plant foods Whatare themost appropriatecriteriafordetectingther-
roastedor released (fromdehiscingpods) by the fire. mal alteration?When are charcoalflakesreallyevidence
5. Problemsof modellingare illustratedby the vexing offire?Perhaps,at present,the best thatwe can do is to
example of what to make of baked clay. This has been speak ofpurportedevidence and purportedoccurrences
well aired,as Jamesdescribes,but an example may help and use quotes forthe term"burned" at the beginning,
to bringthis home. First,termiteearthcan be remark- not just the end,ofcriticalanalyticalpassages,including
ably uniformin content,texture,and particlesize. Pre- instances in which the reviewerdoes not question the
sumably this is a functionor by-productof macroter- judgmentof the source but no laboratorycorroboration
mitinine natural history,e.g., mound architectureor is presented.
mandibulargape in workertermites.Whatmay resultis More oftenthannot,we have theproblemofequivocal
bias toward the creation of clasts. Second, coevolved evidence(to riskan oxymoron).The conceptof"associa-
associations between termites and certain species of tion" seems nebulous, sometimes vacuous, when ap-
woodyvegetationmay enhance the probabilityof clay's plied to deposits hundredsof thousands of years old.
being naturallyfired.At Mt. Assirik, Cubitermes sp. With possible geomorphologicaldispersal of originally
termitesand Combretumsp. shrubsare foundtogether associated elements throughtens of centimetersof de-
in open grassland.Afterbush firespass through,dead posits or across several meters of paleoterrainand ab-
branchesof Combretummay burnfordays,thus baking sence ofrelevanttemporalmarkersor controls,how can
the clay of the mound fromwhich the branches pro- "associations" provide unequivocal evidence for early
trude. Third, sympatricanimals, including primates, hominid-controlled use offire?FortheUpperPaleolithic
make use of the Cubitermes-Combretumassociation. we have builtfeaturescontainingthe residuaoffireand
Patas monkeys (Erythrocebuspatas) preferentially sitthe possibilityof establishingthe remotenessofnatural
atop the Cubitermesmounds in the shade of the Com- sources of firein caves which also contain archaeolog-
bretumleaves, using the site forresting,vigilance,and ical materials. For earlier periods structurallydefined
probablynocturnal sleeping (C. Henty, personal com- hearthsare apparentlynonexistent.Even the hearthsof
munication).The resultis a statisticallikelihoodof the Terra Amata are said to be "unprepared,"althoughthe
discoveryoffaunalremainsin an associationwithbaked quoted descriptionis ofpreparedfeatures.Forremotean-
clay that is entirelyspurious. tiquity,what are the criteriaforhominidagency?Surely
6. Much ofthe evidencefortheuse offirein the Lower more than a notion ofmultiplekinds of (purported) evi-
Pleistocenewould seem to be just as readilyattributabledence is called for.
to pongidsas to hominids.At present,thereseems to be Fallacious argumentsappearto be commonin thislit-
no way to distinguishthem.This is a further example of erature.Most seem to be not the result of negligence
the currentdebate (as pointedout by James)overwhich with regardto logical formor failure to consider the
ofthe variousextincthominoidtaxa was responsiblefor ambiguitiesof language but ratherwhat logicians call
which elementsof the paleo-archaeologicalrecord. material fallacies (cf. Aristotle'sfallacies extra dictio-
nem), forexample, the fallacyof immense benefits,the
fallacyof appeal to uncriticalimagination,the fallacyof
alternativeexplanations'beingjust as fanciful.To put it
CHARLES R. PETERS simply,the common formof (fallacious)argumentthat
Sub-DepartmentofAnthropology,Universityof we encounterappears to be beggingthe question.
Georgia, Athens,Ga. 30602, U.S.A. i9 viii 88 In generalwe want to decide whethersome hypothet-
ical situationappearsfactualin the lightofthe sampled
Jameshas rendereda service by bringingtogetherthis evidence or which of a number of hypotheticalsitua-
materialon theearly-prehistoric"evidence" forhominid tionsis best supportedbythe evidenceat hand.Butwhat
controlleduse offireand providinga preliminarygeneral about the risk that one is willingto take in makingthe
reassessment.Several of his points are well made. My wrongdecision?The null hypothesis(to use a statistical
commentsare intendedas complementaryand focus on metaphor)is thatthe firedoccurrencesare natural(non-
some of the (usuallyimplicit)conceptualizationsof evi- hominid in origin),i.e., that the observed evidence is

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i8 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 30, Number I, FebruaryI989

what would be expectedundernaturalconditions.(The served or heard of evidence for such a phenomenon

alternativehere is that the occurrencesare hominidin there, despite seasonally frequentlightningstrikes. I
origin.) A conventional scientific decision rule is to have,however,observedtheyearlyburningofforestsfor
make theprobabilityoffalselyrejectingthenull hypoth- nonagricultural reasons,and it is thisthatI alluded to in
esis (Type I error)verysmall, i.e., to avoid rejectingthe my nonlithic-technology model (Pope and Cronin I984)
null hypothesiswhen it is true. Not rejectingthe null and not the use of fire to manufacture"bamboo and
hypothesiswhen it is false (TypeII error)is theoretically otherwooden implements."
more likely when we reduce the probabilityof Type I. I thinkit useful that Jameshas pointed out that evi-
Not rejectingit can also be thoughtof as exercisingthe dence forfireat otherearlyAsian sites is in manycases
optionof suspendingjudgment.That we do not findthe equivocal. The factremains,however,thatsome formof
evidence implicatinga hominid agent convincing(we burninghas been reportedfromall the earlyAsian sites,
stillhave reasonabledoubt)does not requireus to accept includingone Middle Pleistocene site in Thailand that
the null hypothesisof a naturaloriginor agent.Exercis- shows unequivocal evidence of a hearthin association
ing this optioncan be especiallyusefulwhen,as appears with artifactsand fauna (Pope et al. I98I). Surelythese
to be the case here, much of the "evidence" does not widespreadassociations cannot be dismissed as the re-
clearly establish the occurrenceof fireitself.We have sult of nonhominidagents.
yet to accumulate a data base detailed and reliable Finally,thisreviewwould have been much morecred-
enough to specifywhat we would in fact expect to see ible ifit had avoided adoptingthe Binfordianhypothesis
in the prehistoricrecord as evidence of natural vs. of minimal culturalcapacities forPleistocenehominids
hominid-controlled firewithout built features.Not re- -imposing impossiblyrigorousstandardsof evidence
jectingthe null hypothesismay be the logical optionwe on archaeologicalassemblagesand postulatingelaborate
need to see us throughthis one hopes temporarysitua- natural alternatives(lightning-causedcave fires,spon-
tion. taneous combustion,chemical staining,etc.) to explain
phenomena most parsimoniouslyunderstoodas the re-
sult of hominid activity. The "postdepositionalpro-
GEOFFREY G. POPE cesses" that have been so prominentin recentdiscus-
DepartmentofAnthropology,UniversityofIllinois, sions of Zhoukoudian are in fact more effectivein
Urbana, Ill. 6i8oi, U.S.A. i8 viii 88 destroyingoriginal archeological evidence than they
are in creatingspurious new patternsin archeological
AlthoughJames'sreview of the evidence forthe use of assemblages. This is especially importantto remember
firebyearlyhominidsis generallythoughtful, his Binfor- in tryingto reconstructthe behaviorof such relatively
dian approachprevents,at least in some cases, a truly rareanimals as earlyhominids.
impartialconsiderationofthe evidence.Nowhereis this
more apparentthan in the treatmentof Zhoukoudian,
which consists primarilyof a reaffirmation of conclu- ANN B. STAHL
sions based on an incomplete review of the literature DepartmentofAnthropology, State UniversityofNew
that neglects major Chinese sources (Binfordand Ho York,Binghamton, Binghamton, N.Y. I390I, U.S.A.
I985) and a cursory examination of a portion of the I7 vIII 88
Zhoukoudian fauna (Binfordand Stone I986) thatmany
Asian specialistsfeelis a misleadingand speculativeuse The archaeologist interest in the Lower and Middle
ofbothstatisticsand taphonomictechniques(see Olsen Pleistocenetwo decades ago feltfrustrated by a dearthof
I986, Pope I988). archaeological evidence; however, the construction of
Buildingon Binfordand Ho's (I985) speculation that scenariosto accommodatethe existingevidenceseemed
spontaneous combustionwas the source of the Zhou- a straightforward process. The existence of basic "hu-
koudian fires, James revives the comparison of the man" behaviorssuch as tool use, controloffire,hunting,
Zhoukoudian evidence with the resultsof naturallyoc- etc., seemed easy to demonstrate,even fromveryearly
curring cave fires in the arid SouthwesternUnited contexts.The past I 5 yearshave seen a continuousero-
States. ComparingtemperatePleistocene North China sion of numerous "facts" of hominid evolution pre-
with the arid Great Basin is inappropriate, especiallyin sentedin introductory texts.The image of our earlyan-
light of fairlygood evidence thathominid occupation of cestors as social creatures cooperatingaround a cozy
the cave coincidedwithrelativelywet and warmperiods hearth,sharingthe profitsof a day's hunting,seems less
(Pope I988, Aigner I986, Liu et al. I985). Furthermore, tenable in the face of more rigorousanalyses of site for-
despite James's contention that the association of mation combinedwith a greaterawareness of problems
burned material, artifacts,and faunal remains is "far associated with using contemporary peoples and nonhu-
fromconclusive," such associations are confirmedby man primatesas analogs formodelinghominidbehavior
originalsite reportsto which Binfordand Stone did not (e.g., Isaac I984, Cartmill, Pilbeam, and Isaac I986).
have access. James'sarticlecontributesto this literatureby reevalu-
The speculation about lightning-causedcave firesis atingthe evidenceforcontrolledfireand questioningthe
interesting, but aftermorethantenyearsofresearchand "facts" that have entered the realm of archaeological
explorationof karst caves in East Asia I have never ob- folklore.Althoughthe depthof coverageis at timesun-

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even,Jamescasts an appropriately skepticaleye overthe
literatureand concludes thatthe evidenceforcontrolled
firepriorto ca. 400,000 years ago is equivocal at best.
Although I agree in large part with James'sconclu-
sions, I question his suggestion that the number of
"typesof evidence" is the best means of sortingout oc-
currencesof controlledas compared with natural fire
available to us at present.What his discussion lacks is
explicitmentionof a verybasic concept in archaeology
of which we oftenlose sight: associations. In the final
analysis,many of the reinterpretations of Plio/Pleisto-
cene siteshave hingedon argumentsabout the qualityof
associations, and many of the early sites suggestedto
evidence controlledfiremay be judgedequivocal on the
basis of poor associations between evidence forfireand
artifacts.Chesowanja is a case in point.Thus, a sitewith
onlyone ortwo typesofevidenceforfire,iftheyoccurin
clear association with evidence of hominid occupation,
may be judged less equivocal than a site with several
indicationsof firein poor association.
James'sfocusis clearlyupon assessingthe antiquityof
fire.This is reflectiveof a concernon the part of past
researchersto establish its "earliest" occurrence;how-
ever,merelydemonstratingthe existence of controlled
firetells us verylittleabout its evolutionarysignificance
once its control has been mastered. For example, we
have yet to gain a clear understandingof the implica-
tions of cooking forhominid dietarystrategiesdespite
preliminarydiscussions of some importantvariables
(Stahl I984, i988). One thingthat does seem likely is
thatthe "advantages"accruedthroughthe contrbloffire
were not realized simultaneously.Use of controlledfire
as a sourceofwarmthmayhave precededsystematicuse
of firein food preparationby thousandsor hundredsof
thousandsofyears.Thus, criteriamustbe developednot
only foridentifying the existence of controlledfirebut
also fordelineatingthe uses of fire.The latteris a key
issue that has yet to be sortedout but that has funda-
mental implicationsforour understandingof hominid
adaptationsbothbeforeand afterthe systematiccontrol
of fire.
Reply
STEVEN R. JAMES
Tempe,Ariz.,U.S.A.23 ix 88
Most commentatorsare essentiallyin agreementwith
the viewpoint I have expressed,and I see their com-
mentsas complementingand clarifying certainpointsof
myargument.As would be expectedin anyanthropolog-
ical audience, there are several who disagree.Lewis is
rightin sayingthatmodernhunter-gatherers used fireto
manipulate plant and animal resources,but the same
cannotnecessarilybe assumed ofearlyhominids.Given
theshiftsin opinionin paleoanthropologicalstudiesthat
are noted by Dennell and Stahl, it is difficultto deter-
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JAMBES Hominid Use of Fire I I9
mine what the behavior of early hominids was like.
Some researchersnow arguethatscavengingratherthan
huntingconstituteda largepartof theirsubsistencebe-
havior. To assume that our early hominid ancestors
were like contemporary hunter-gatherersin theiruse of
fireor any other behavior is to deny the evolutionary
variabilitythathas developedover the past severalmil-
lion years.
Lewis minimizes the role of lightningin ignitingfor-
est and grasslandfires.Clearly,we are readingdifferent
literatureon the causes ofnaturalconflagrations,partic-
ularly for the Rocky Mountain forestand prairiefires
that he uses as examples. In western North America
duringperiods of summerdrought,lightningis the pri-
mary cause of natural firesin Pacific coast and Rocky
Mountain forestsdominated by Douglas fir (Pseudo-
tsuga menziesii). It has been recordedto account for
morethan 50% oftheforestfiresin west-centralOregon
and Baileyi982:255, 256,
fromI9I0 to I977 (Wright
274). Historical recordsfromthe northerngrasslandsof
Canada and the United States indicate that lightning
was the sole cause of fireotherthan humans. A range
researcherin southernAlbertareportedthat of a dozen
grass fireshe observedbetween I949 and I964 all but
two (which were man-caused)were the result of light-
ning(Nelsonand EnglandI97I:295). Similarsituations
can be documentedforthe Old World. Clark (i983:32)
argues that prior to human settlement of Australia
40,000 years ago, "lightningwould have been the most
common ignition source, with volcanic eruptionsand
spontaneous combustionof coal and peat being impor-
tantat times." Patterson,Edwards,and Maguire(i 987:4)
also consider lightningthe most importantsource of
naturalfires.
Finally,until recentlyresearchershave oftenattrib-
uted the co-occurrenceof stone tools,animal bones,and
charcoal in early archaeological deposits to hominids.
This view has changedwithinthepast severaldecades as
archaeologistshave studied taphonomicprocesses that
affectthe archaeologicalrecordand have begunto distin-
guish naturalfactorsfromhominidbehavioralpatterns.
Contextual problems are apparent in both caves and
open sites,areas subjectedto myriadnaturalprocessesin
which early hominids occupied but a small niche. As-
sumed associations oflithicartifactsand charcoalflecks
in early archaeologicaldeposits,in the absence of sub-
stantialotherevidence of fire,cannot be taken as indi-
catinghominid controlor even fortuitoususe of fire.
Pope considersthe evidence forfirein "all the early
Asian sites" unquestionable.The Middle Pleistocenesite
in Thailand to which he alludes appearsto be Kao Pah
Nam, a limestone cave/rockshelterthat he and others
excavated in I979-80. Althoughseveral possible stone
tools were recovered,the cave deposits were formed
by a numberof naturalprocesses: "Bones are generally
gnawed and broken. . . . The presence of Crocuta sp.
[hyena],Panthera tigris[tiger],Hystrixsp. [porcupine],
and apparentlyhominidssuggeststhatone orall ofthese
agentswere at least partlyresponsibleforthe accumula-
tion ofbones at Kao Pah Nam. An alternativeinterpreta-
20 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 30, Number I, FebruaryI989

tion may indicate that depositionof the Kao Pah Nam formerwas lackingat the site. Dennell here expressesa
faunamay be the resultofanimals fallinginto a fissure" similarconcern.
(Popeetal. I98I:I56-57). Further,thereis no discussion As forvolcanism, it would be worth examiningthe
ofa hearthin this report,althoughin a laterarticlePope active lava flows of Kilauea Craterin Hawaii and other
(i983:499I) mentions the presence of fire at an such areas of the world with a view to ascertainingthe
unspecifiedlocalityin SoutheastAsia-presumably Kao depth, temperature,and result of ground heating be-
Pah Nam, since the interimsite reportis referenced. neath them. Data on this subject may even be available
With regardto Pope's model forMiddle Pleistocene in the geological literature.Temperaturesrecordedfor
adaptationin Asia, it was not clear thatthe "processing basiclavasrangefrom750?C to >i,2o00C withan aver-
ofnon-lithicresources"withfireto whichPope and Cro- ageofi, I000 C; coolingis slowandmaytakeyears(Bul-
nin (I984:389) referwas not themakingofbamboo tools, lard I976:52-53, 69; I979:I4-I5). Even monthslater,
and I thank him for clarifyingthis matter. However, temperatures at the base of the crustmay be in excess of
Pope (I983:499I) has writtenelsewhere: i,000oC. The underlyingsediments are undoubtedly
heated, and although this heating would probablynot
The use ofbamboo in conjunctionwith othernon- extend the 50 m requiredto bake the clay deposits at
lithicmaterialsconstitutesa highlyportabletechnol- Chesowanja it is importantforus to know moreabout it
ogythatmay have arisenas a specificadaptationto forinterpretations of earlyfire.
the heavilyforestedareas of SoutheastAsia.... The Dennell's informativecomments bring out some
widespreadevidence offireat earlyChinese sites (and pointsI did not consider.He is correctin distinguishing
at least one localityin SoutheastAsia [Pope et al. betweendirectand indirectevidenceforfire.The reason
I98I]) also supportsthis hypothesisas fireis an im- I did not weight hearths,often considereddirect evi-
portantpartofwoodworkingforesttechnology. dence of fireuse, was thatthe languageused to describe
That Pope has seen no lightning-caused cave firesin ten themis ambiguousand varied.To me a hearthis a circu-
years of East Asian researchis worthnoting,but until lar or ellipticalfeatureabout0.5 to I.0 m in diameter
we look more closely at this phenomenon,which has and 5 to 30 cm deep that oftencontains charcoal,ash,
apparentlyreceived only a few briefcomments (Brain burnedsoil, fire-cracked rock,and possiblycharredbone
I967, LawrenceI953), we cannot rule it out. and other organic matter. The hearths reported at
Gowlett admonishes me for overlookingthe words Zhoukoudian, for instance, are by this definitionnot
"workinghypotheses"in his reportson the evidencefor hearthsat all (see Binfordand Ho i985). For example,
fireat Chesowanja (Gowlettet al. I98I, Gowlett,Harris, Campbell (1982:267) describesthemas containingabout
and Wood i982). The words are indeed used several 7 m of charcoal.There is clearlya problemof semantics
times in both the initial articleand the replyto the late in the literaturewith regardto the interpretationof
GlynnIsaac. Nevertheless,one does not get the feeling hearths.
that the fireevidence is viewed as a hypothesisopen to I concurwithDennell thatthe sample ofMiddle Pleis-
question and debate: "We emphasize again thatthe evi- tocene sites fromAfricais verysmall, but the fact re-
dence of fireat Chesowanja is quite definite:the clay mains thatmost ofthe evidenceis negative.As he notes,
was burned,and its association with the artefactsis di- Olorgesailie has recentlybeen dated between o.6 and
rect and physical" (Gowlett, Harris, and Wood i982: 0.93 millionyearsB.P., withmost ofthe artifactsderived
870). Ratherthanbeinga hypothesis,the evidenceoffire fromdeposits in excess of 0.7 million years (Bye et al.
and the idea of its possible controlby hominidsseem to I987, Gowletti987). Thus therereallyappearsto be a
be a post hoc accommodative argument(see Binford "muddle in the middle." The dating of Yuanmou in
I98I, G. ClarkI988). Although Gowlettetal. (i98i:i28) China is more problematic.Initial paleomagneticdates
do mention the possibilitythat "bush fires,lightning placed the two H. erectusincisorsand artifactualmateri-
strikesand even volcanic heating"mighthave produced als in the Lower Pleistocene at I .7 million yearsB.P., a
the burned clay at GnJi i/6E and even examined the view that some still hold (Jia i985:I40-4I); later
"baking around a recently burned tree stump near paleomagnetic analyses date the deposits as younger
Chesowanja," theyrejectthese naturalprocesses.What than the Matuyama-Brunhesboundary,about o.5 to o.6
needs to be done, as I have said, is to examine the range millionyearsB.P. (JiaI985:I4I; Wu and Wangi985).
ofvariability in natural and culturalfactors thatproduce The review by Patterson, Edwards, and McGuire (i987)
fireand develop testablehypothesesbased on signatures of taphonomicprocesses involved in charcoal produc-
of these patterns.I thankGowlettforspecifyingthe dis- tion,dispersal,and depositionand of techniquesforthe
tances fromthe site of the fiveA. boisei craniumfrag- identificationofmicroscopiccharcoalis well worthcon-
ments and fornoting the stratigraphicposition of the sidering.Several otherstudies using microscopicchar-
Chesowanja basalt formation.I did not doubt that the coal have been reportedwithin the past few years (e.g.,
australopithecinefragments were derivedfromthe same BurneyI987; J.S. ClarkI988a, b, c; R. Clarki983).
sedimentsas the lithic and bone materialsrecoveredat I wholeheartedlyagreewithLynchabout theproblems
GnJii/6E. What I questioned was the assumptionthat with the supposedlyearlyassociations of fire,faunalre-
the stone tools were made by H. erectus and not aus- mains, and crudestone tools at several South American
tralopithecineseven though tangible evidence for the localities. At the rockshelterof Boqueirao do Sitio da

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 JAMES Hominid Use ofFire 2 1I

PedraFurada,forexample,"well-structured hearths"are with his remarks.Peters bringsa philosophical view-

reportedfromdeposits radiocarbon-dated to as earlyas point to the discussion of earlyhominiduse offire.His
32,000 years B.P. A close examination of the strati- view is complementaryto my argument.
graphicprofile(Guidon and Delibrias 986:fig.i) reveals Finally, Stahl points out that many long-accepted
thatthe so-calledhearthsmeasurebetween2 and 7 m in "facts" of hominid behavior are now beginningto be
length,rangefrom2o to 50 cm in thickness,and follow treated with caution. She advocates a distinctionbe-
the natural slope of the strata. One "hearth" extends tween controlleduse offireforwarmthand forcooking,
across the top of the deposits directlybelow the upper- particularlysince the lattermay be much morerecent.I
most level (LayerE). The appearanceof these "features" tend to agree,but the distinctionmay be hard to make.
suggeststhat they are not hearthsbut burneddeposits, The presenceof charredfoodremainswould be an indi-
calling into question the nature of the "cultural" evi- cation of cookingand theirabsence an indicationof the
dence fromthe site. In orderto determinewhetherthese use of fireforwarmth.However,preservationis a prob-
featuresare actually hearths,an observationteam com- lem in Pleistocenesites,and even in late prehistoriccon-
posed of various archaeologists and other scientists texts in which charredplant and animal remains are
should be charged with examination of the evidence. preservedin hearthsit is sometimesdifficultto distin-
The team assembled to assess the reported28,ooo-year- guishthefunctionshearthsmayhave served.Stahlmen-
old evidence forearlyhumans at Tule Springs,Nevada, tions association as a criterionfor hominid-induced
determinedthat the earliest artifactsdated only to fire-a point also touched on by Gilbert.I did not spe-
I0,000-I I,000 yearsB.P. (Haynesi988, Wormington and cificallyaddress archaeologicalassociation in some in-
Ellis i967). In fact,the "hearths"at Tule Springsturned stances because it was not the association of artifacts
out to be partiallyfossilizedplantsfromspringsand the and the evidenceoffirethatwas in doubtbut the nature
"fire-reddened earth" sediments stained by iron oxide of the fireor its evidence. This is the reason I turnedto
fromgroundwater(Haynes I988:6). More recently,four the numberof typesof evidence in attemptingto evalu-
bone tools fromthe Old Crow localityin Yukon Terri- ate the extantdata,which are oftendisparateand ambig-
tory,Canada, initiallyradiocarbon-dated around27,000 uous. Until we have an objective understandingof the
yearsB.P. (Irvingand HaringtonI973), have been accel- evidenceand the taphonomicprocessesthatproducedit,
erator-dated betweenI,35o and2,930 yearsB.P. (Nelson we can only speculate about early hominid controlof
et al. i986). When reputed pre-Clovis sites in the fire.
Americas have been thoroughlyexamined, the claims
aboutthemhave not been verified.Such will probablybe
the situation with Pedra Furada, Esperanca Cave, and
Monte Verde.
McGrew's remarksabout the possibilityof occasional
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Calendar

I989 October 3-5. 3d InternationalConferenceon Food Sci-

March 30-April 2. Society of Ethnobiology,i2th Con-
ference,Riverside,Calif.,U.S.A. Deadline forpapers
December i 5. Write:Elizabeth Lawlor or Sharon
Rachele, Departmentof Anthropology, Universityof
California,Riverside,Calif. 9252i, U.S.A.
August 23-26. Society forthe Encyclopediaof Ideas on
Ultimate Realityand Meaning, 5thBiennial Confer-
ence, Toronto,Ont., Canada, includingthe sympo-
sium "The Inventionof Nature: The Impact of the
Concept of Nature on the Concept of Man." Write:
Thomas Bargatzky,InstitutfurVolkerkundeund
Afrikanistik,UniversitatMunchen,Ludwigstr.27,
D-8ooo Munchen 22, FederalRepublic of Germany.
September3-8. 3d Ales HrdlickaAnthropological
Congress,Pragueand Humpolec, Czechoslovakia.
Write:V. V. Novotny,Medical Faculty,Charles Uni-
Salmovska5, i2o
versity, 00 Prague,Czecho-
slovakia.
ence and TechnologyInformation, Budapest,Hun-
gary.Themes: Utilization and Deficiencies of Data-
bases in Food Science with Special Referenceto
MarketingAspects,InformationSystemsin Food
Science and Technology,ComputerControlin Food
Production.Write:Udo Schutzsack,International
Food InformationService,Herriotstr.5, 6ooo Frank-
furtam Main 7I, Federal Republic of Germany.
I990
September3-9. InternationalAssociation forthe His-
toryof Religions,i6th Congress,Rome, Italy.
Theme: The Notion of "Religion" in Comparative
Research.Write:XVI InternationalCongressof the
Historyof Religions,Dipartimentodi Studi Storico-
Religiosi,Facolta di Letteree Filosofia,Universitadi
Roma "La Sapienza," Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5, I-OOI85
Rome, Italy.

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