Oldest evidence of fire-lighting comes from early humans in Britain Around 400,000 years ago, a band of Neanderthals, or their ancestors, in Britain struck flint with pyrite and built a fire repeatedly in the same spot. Archaeologists studying the site think it is the earliest evidence of humans starting fires ever found. Nick Ashton at the British Museum in London says there are three crucial pieces of evidence from the site his team has studied at Barnham quarry in Suffolk: pyrite, heated sedi