The findings obtained through an innovative method based on artificial intelligence are some of the earliest evidence of the use of fire in Israel and in the world
They say that "there is no smoke without fire", but a new study by Weizmann Institute of Science scientists, in collaboration with researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Toronto (Canada), challenges this statement, or at the very least makes it possible to discover smoke in places where it was hidden until now. In the article thatPublished today In the scientific journal "Records of the American Academy of Sciences" (PNAS), presents the team of researchers led by Dr Philippa Natalio An innovative method for identifying traces of fire in archaeological sites without the need for visual evidence, such as changes in the color of bones and flint tools or remains of ash and charcoal. Using the method, which is based on artificial intelligence, the scientists, at the Evron Quarry in the Western Galilee, uncovered rare evidence of the use of fire as early as 800 to a million years ago - some of the earliest evidence in the entire world. These findings open the door to new discoveries in the field of archeology and may be an important milestone in understanding human development.
Archaeologists speculate that the primitive man used fire for the first time about a million years ago - around the time when Homo bilis (skilled man) developed into Homo erectus (upright man). According to a theory called the "cooking hypothesis", the use of fire is a decisive factor in our evolution: fire not only allowed our ancestors to keep their body heat in a cold climate, keep predators away and develop new technologies, but also provided them with the ability to cook. Cooked food increased the nutritional value of the food, aided in the digestion of animal proteins and paved the way for a leap forward in brain development. The only problem with this hypothesis is a lack of evidence: in archaeology, finding evidence for the use of fire is largely based on "eye sight", that is, identifying changes in color, composition and external physical properties created by fire and imprinted on the ancient finds. Therefore, the accepted archaeological methods allow to identify traces of the use of fire up to 300 thousand years ago, but when moving further back in the timeline - it is more and more difficult to find traces of fire. In fact, in the entire world there are only five archeological sites that are more than 300 thousand years old - one of them at the Bridge of the Daughters of Jacob in the East Bank of the Jordan - where reliable findings were discovered that testified to the use and lighting of fire.
"It seems we have discovered the sixth site," says Dr. Nataliou, who together with Dr. Ido Azuri and other partners developed inPrevious research An innovative tool for examining archaeological findings that combines spectroscopic analysis, which reveals the molecular structure of materials with great precision, and artificial intelligence that allows analyzing the large amounts of information obtained by spectroscopy. This tool allowed the researchers to reveal that already about 300 thousand years ago the ancient man knew how to use fire at different heat levels to create a variety of tools. Now the scientists are returning for another round - armed with a more sophisticated tool and looking back to an even earlier period, and they are joined by research student Zana Stepka from the Weizmann Institute, Dr. Liora Kolska Horvitz from the Hebrew University and Prof. Michael Hazan from the University of Toronto.
The Evron Quarry, located in the Western Galilee, is an archaeological site that was first discovered in the mid-70s. As part of a series of excavations, led by the late Prof. Avraham Ronan, the remains of a wide variety of mammals, fossils and tools typical of the Lower Paleolithic period were discovered at a depth of 14 meters in a quarry. According to the dating, the site is from 800 thousand to a million years ago - one of the oldest in Israel. In the findings that were discovered there were no signs of fire - and ash and charcoal, if they were on the site, had long since been consumed. Despite the absence of signs of fire, the institute's scientists and their partners decided to return to the ancient site and try to see if they could uncover hidden evidence of the use of fire. "When we started this project," says Dr. Nataliou, "the archaeologists told us that we would not discover anything new. Too bad we didn't bet!"
For this purpose, the scientists included the tool they developed in the previous study, so that it could reveal the molecular composition of the archaeological remains and thus estimate the temperature to which the flint tools discovered in the quarry were heated. However, a more accurate analysis means a huge amount of data, and for that a powerful and efficient enough tool was needed that could separate the main thing to treat. "Until we arrived at the exact tool, we tested a wide variety of methods," says Dr. Azuri, who led the development of the new method based on artificial intelligence. "We tried many models, which were based on data analysis and different types of machine learning. In the end, we created a tool that makes it possible to reveal the use of fire without relying at all on visual evidence - but only on the molecular structure that was revealed using spectroscopic tools."
The scientists trained the model to detect the temperature to which modern flint rocks were heated under laboratory conditions, and then applied it to remains collected from the Evron quarry. An analysis of 26 flint vessels found in the quarry showed that these vessels were heated to a wide range of temperatures - The scientists also analyzed 87 animal remains found at the site, and discovered changes resulting from burning in the structure of some pieces of ivory, which originated from an extinct species of elephant; The rest of the bones examined were not burned - evidence that this was not a random fire.
The members of the research group are convinced that it is possible to apply the new method to additional archaeological sites and that it will be possible to deepen not only our knowledge of the sources of fire, but also how the fire technologies of primitive man developed and influenced the evolution of the human race. "If we use the new method we developed on archaeological sites that are one million or even two million years old - we may discover surprising findings," says Stepka.
"This project is not only a reminder of the potential inherent in the research of the unknown - and the unseen - and the fruits that such research may yield," says Dr. Nataliou, "but also of the importance of combining different fields of research - Ido has a background in quantum chemistry, Zana comes from the field of scientific archeology and Liora and Michael Specializing in prehistoric archaeology. We revealed new information about our origins and perhaps even about our nature, but first and foremost - we showed how interdisciplinary research can and should be carried out."
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