What Kept 780,000-Year-Old Campfires Burning? Scientists Have the Answer

The answer is not a dramatic lost technology or a mysterious fuel source. It is a much more practical discovery about how early humans chose where to live, eat, work, and keep fire available in a demanding prehistoric landscape.

At Gesher Benot Ya’aqov in northern Israel, near ancient Lake Hula, researchers found that Acheulian hominins likely kept fires going with readily available lakeshore driftwood. The study, published in Quaternary Science Reviews in 2026, shows how firewood access may have helped shape repeated occupation of the site nearly 780,000 years ago.