870 Nature Vol. 296 29 April 1982 . MATTERS ARISING bed by fluvial transpore. However, para­ rate of the clay. We share with Isaac the Early hominids and 1 fire at Chesowanja, Kenya graph 4 and Fig. 2 of the article make it hope that future investigations of experi­ clear that all the finds, including the bur­ mental fires will assist in the interpretation IN addition to providing valuable new ned earth fragments, were recovered from of such data. information on the important palaeo­ material that was swept together in the Strength of association is an important anthropological evidence from bed of a small channel. The finds can thus point. Given the controversy surrounding 1 1 Chesowanja, Gowlett et a/. state that be regarded as provocative and sugges­ the contexts of all early sites , Isaac legiti­ "burnt clay found at one artefact locality tive, but no more. mately raises the possibility that the baked dated to greater than 1.42 ± 0.07 Myr is The question of the antiquity of human clay and artefacts may have been swept the earliest known evidence of fire associ­ control over fire is of more than curiosity together. The evidence does not, ated with a hominid occupation site" and value in our understanding of prehistory however, support this view. On the that "the new find, along with the more and human evolution. Besides the indica­ contrary, we have good reason to believe tentative evidence from other sites, tion provided of an advance in mental that a reverse process has operated, and greatly strengthens the hypothesis that by capacity, fire may well have had important that the clay lumps, starting together, 1.4 Myr hominids were using and con­ effects on feeding strategies and diet have crept apart. The presence of several trolling fire". breadth. Control over fire also would have large lumps together (square 82-83 There are various reasons why the allowed humans to raise the frequency of E/111-112 S), including three weighing evidence reported should be treated as a bush fires and thereby to have a marked 262, 217 and 17 5 g respectively and which good deal less definite than the article effect on vegetation patterns. retain sharp edges and protuberances, implies. The article by Gowlett et al., and others argues very strongly against any Traces of bush fires of presumably that they cite, serve the useful purpose of significant water transport, as indeed does natural origin are not uncommon in early emphasizing that we still do not know the whole context of fine-grained sedi­ and middle Pleistocene deposits of the whether humans controlled fire before ments. These finds occur close to a East African Rift Valley. For example, -0.5 Myr and if so, how long before. I modern erosion gully, which prevents fur­ the fluviatile facies of the Upper Member suspect that development of suitable dis­ ther exploration to the north and west, so at Koobi Fora contains numerous red­ criminants between traces of bush fires that the scatter of smaller clay lumps to dened, hardened patches that are closely and controlled fire will require collabor­ the opposite corner of the excavation is analogous to places where smouldering ation of physicists and archaeologists in actually a vital bonus to interpretation, as logs and stumps from modern bush fires the field during excavations. it rules out any possibility of the burnt have burned down against or into contem­ GLYNN ISAAC material deriving fi·om recent superficial porary soils. I have seen and photo­ Department of Anthropology, disturbance. graphed several recent examples of bur­ University of California, We welcome Isaac's contribution, for it ned patches in East Africa, and at least Berkeley, California 94720, USA is important that the cases for and against one rather analogous set of circumstances early human control of fire, at 2 has been reported in Australia • Where I. Gowlett, J. A. J., Harris, J. W. K., Walton, D. & Wood, Chesowanja or elsewhere, should be fully B. A. Nature 294, 125-129 (1981). these reddened patches, ancient or 2. Chapman, V. Mankind 11,480--483 (1977). aired. We also agree that progress in this modern, erode, a scattering of hard red 3. Laloy, J. Cahiers du Centre de Recherches Prehistoriques field of research will be much facilitated fragments results. Clasts of this natural (Universite de Paris I, 1980). by closer practical collaboration between 'terracotta' can commonly be observed in physicists and archaeologists. Nonethe­ the grits and gravels formed on ancient less, we stand firmly by the view that the land surfaces. I have frequently observed GOWLETT, HARRIS AND WOOD evidence at Chesowanja greatly these clasts in excavations both at Koobi REPLY-Isaac provides us with an oppor­ strengthens the hypothesis that fire was Fora and at Olorgesailie and imagine tunity to explain further why we consider associated with hominid activities more them to be a widespread phenomenon. that the context of the burnt clay at site than 1 Myr ago. We shall present addi­ This means that before a new record GnJi 1/6E deserves serious consideration tional evidence in due course. for a high antiquity of human control over as evidence linking fire with hominid We hope that this exchange will help fire can fairly be claimed, there must exist activity. to stimulate research on a wider scale, for some objective means of distinguishing a Isaac describes a series of circumstances although the evolutionary importance of hearth controlled by hominids from the which would provide the least ambiguous controlled fire has been appreciated for 2 baking effects of a bush fire. Gowlett et evidence of controlled fire on a single over a century , new technical means for a/. seem to claim that this distinction is open site, and few would dispute his gen­ exploring its history now provide increas­ made possible by the contrast between a eral criteria. We agree, too, that circum­ ingly better chances of adding to the facts. determination of a 400 oc baking tem­ stances where baking is not proved, or perature for the burned material from site where evidence of hominid activity is 1. A. J. GOWLETT GnJi 1/6E compared with over 600 °C tenuous, provide inadequate testimony. Research Laboratory for Archaeology for "baking around a recently burned tree Where we clearly disagree with Isaac is and the History of Art, stump". I am sceptical that a difference over the idea that a site with much Oxford University, Oxford OX1 301, UK between two isolated determinations can stronger evidence should have no effect J. W. K. HARRIS be relied on as a general criterion, and I on what can be admitted as a working Department of Anthropology, would predict that if a series of bushfire hypothesis. University of Wisconsin, baked samples is measured, the range of We emphasize again that the evidence Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201, USA temperatures will be found to overlap of fire at Chesowanja is quite definite: the with campfire temperatures. clay was burned, and its association with B. A. WOOD The most convincing evidence for the artefacts is direct and physical. Isaac Department of Anatomy, human control over fire in an open site rightly points out that the apparently low The Middlesex Hospital Medical School, would come from evidence of a localized, baking temperature of the clay is incon­ London W1P 6DP, UK burned patch that was not a burned clusive evidence of the nature of the fire. 1. Binford, L. R. Bones: Ancient Men and Modern Myths stump, inside the confines of artefactual This we clearly acknowledged, and it is (Academic, New York, 1981). refuse which had not been unduly distur- why we advocated studies of the cooling 2. Darwin, C. The Descent of Man (Murray, London, 1871). 0028-0836/82/170870-01$01.00 © 1982 Macmillan Journals Ltd .