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Several lines of evidence suggest the material was heated within the cave rather than blown or washed in from outside. It's not clear what the fires were used for. While the burnt bones suggest cooking, the ancestors might have eaten the meat raw and tossed the bones into the fire, Berna noted. Other possible uses might be warmth, light and protection from wild animals, he said. In a statement to The Associated Press, Roebroeks and Paola Villa of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the University of Colorado Museum in Boulder, said that while the new study probably demonstrates use of fire, they'd like to see signs of preparations like a hearth to be sure. In any case, they said, the work does not show that human ancestors were using fire regularly throughout their range that long ago. In a paper published last year, they traced such habitual use of fire to about 400,000 years ago. Berna said researchers will return to the Wonderwerk cave this summer and pursue hints that fires were used there even earlier than their paper suggests. ___ Online: Journal website: http://www.pnas.org/ Wonderwerk Cave information:
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