Researchers digging for fossils in a South African cave made two startling discoveries last month that were reported in the journal, Science. An analysis of charred bones and plant ash deep within the sediment of the cave in the Northern Cape province clearly showed that human ancestors of ours may have been cooking food over open fires as long as one million years ago, based on carbon dating of the bone fragments and surrounding earth. “These individuals were clearly enjoying their steaks and chops well done, and not just rare,” said archaeological scientist Betrand Raste, as he sifted through camp fire remains. His colleague, Patricia Meltebek of Boston University, said that cave drawings further inside the dig, demonstrated that fire was in widespread use among certain members of the closely knit tribal groups, as indicated by crude sketches showing the early hominids crouched around the burning carcass of what may have been a deer or antelope.
“The surprising thing, she added, was the second great discovery of this find.” She pointed to heavy slash marks through some of the drawings that were obviously applied by a second indigenous group that may have occupied the cave in later years. “The inference that we draw from these harsh charcoal slashes, which only affect the cooking illustrations, is that the second group of individuals denied the very existence of fire in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. We think this group may have been the prehistoric ancestors of today’s Republicans.”