A 2025 study reported evidence of deliberate fire-making at Barnham, England, about 400,000 years ago: heated ground, cracked flint tools and imported pyrite. Fire use is older; a 2026 Wonderwerk Cave study places burning associated with humans in deposits dated 1.07–1.79 million years ago. Those older traces do not establish how the fire was ignited.
Annual surface temperature from CESM (T): a model estimate, not a direct observation of the past.
0 Ma: pre-industrial climate/CO₂; modern sea-level and O₂ references.
Glacial-interglacial cycles with 120m+ sea level swings. Homo sapiens spread from Africa across the globe, and most megafauna went extinct.
Annual model means · 0 Ma: pre-industrial
Mapped sample / window records · not abundance
0–2.5 Ma
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API records whose numeric ages miss the queried window are excluded from the map and counts, with exclusions retained in provenance.
Plate boundaries are a separate model comparison. Their reference frame differs from PALEOMAP terrain and coordinates; coastlines may not align.
· 0 Ma
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