Ancient charcoal sheds new light on how early humans fueled their lives

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

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A general view of the excavation of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov Acheulian Site

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Credit: GBV Expedition

New study shows that early humans living about 800,000 years ago depended on fire in smart, practical ways. Instead of searching for the “best” wood, they took advantage of what nature provided, mainly driftwood collected along the lakeshore. This reliable fuel supply helped them keep fires going for cooking and daily life, and may even explain why they kept coming back to the same spot. In other words, they weren’t just choosing a place to live, they were choosing a place where fire was easy to maintain.

Link to pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1uovu8ot6YH_ky7XFmBgDmiKDddOZGXqS?usp=drive_link

Nearly 800,000 years ago, early humans gathered along the shores of a lush lake in what is now northern Israel. Here, they returned again and again, hunting large animals, cooking fish over controlled fires, and organizing their daily lives around hearths. Now, a new study shows that even the wood fueling those fires, which is preserved as rare fragments of charcoal, can reveal how carefully these ancient communities understood and used their environment.

Published in Quaternary Science Reviews, the study offers a vivid reconstruction of life at the Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (GBY). By examining an exceptionally rich and rare collection of ancient charcoal, an international team of researchers from Israel, Spain, and Germany, including Prof. Naama Goren-Inbar (Hebrew University), Prof. Nira Alperson-Afil and Dr. Yoel Melamed (Bar-Ilan University), Prof. Ethel Allué (Universitat Rovira i Virgili and Institut Català de Paleoecologia), and Prof. Brigitte Urban (Leuphana University), has uncovered new evidence of how early hominins gathered and used firewood, revealing behavior far more sophisticated than previously assumed.

Charcoal rarely survives at such early prehistoric sites, making this unusually large assemblage a unique window into the daily practices of early fire users. While many ancient sites preserve only fragmentary or ambiguous traces of burning, GBY provides a remarkably detailed record of repeated fire use over tens of thousands of years.

GBY preserves a layered history of human occupation along the shores of paleo–Lake Hula, with more than 20 archaeological horizons documenting generations of Acheulian hunter-gatherers returning to the same location. Excavations led by Prof. Naama Goren-Inbar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have revealed a dynamic landscape of activity: stone tools crafted from flint, limestone, and basalt; the remains of hunted animals; and a wide array of plant foods, including fruits, nuts, and seeds gathered from the lakeshore.

One particularly striking layer captures a dramatic moment in time. Alongside stone tools and plant remains, researchers uncovered the skull and bones of a straight-tusked elephant, evidence of large-scale hunting and butchery. The spatial arrangement of the remains suggests that the animal was processed on-site.

At the heart of this ancient camp life was fire. First identified at GBY by Prof. Nira Alperson-Afil of Bar-Ilan University, fire was habitual. It structured how space was organized, anchoring activities such as tool production, food preparation, and social interaction.

The new study focuses on a single occupation layer dated to approximately 780,000 years ago. Researchers analyzed 266 charcoal fragments, using microscopic techniques to identify the internal structure of the wood and determine its botanical origin. The results revealed a surprisingly diverse mix of plant species, including ash, willow, grapevine, oleander, olive, oak, pistachio, and even pomegranate, which is the earliest known evidence of this fruit tree in the Levant.

Unexpectedly, the charcoal assemblage showed greater plant diversity than other botanical remains from the site, such as seeds, fruits, or unburned wood. This suggests that firewood collection captured a broader cross-section of the surrounding environment than other forms of plant use.

Together, these species paint a vivid picture of the ancient landscape: a mosaic of wet lakeshore vegetation and open Mediterranean woodland. But more importantly, they reveal how early humans interacted with that landscape.

Rather than selectively gathering specific types of wood, GBY hominins appear to have relied primarily on driftwood naturally accumulating along the lakeshore. Fallen branches and logs, carried by water and deposited along the shore, would have created a readily available fuel supply. The composition of the charcoal closely mirrors the wood available in this environment, suggesting a practical and efficient strategy, using what the landscape provides.

This insight points to a broader conclusion: access to firewood may have been a decisive factor in where these early humans chose to live. The lakeshore offered not only fresh water, edible plants, animals, and raw materials for tools, but also a constant supply of fuel, essential for maintaining fire.

Even more striking is how fire was used. Spatial analysis shows that dense clusters of charcoal overlap with concentrations of fish remains, primarily the distinctive teeth of large carp. This co-occurrence adds compelling evidence that fish were being cooked at the site nearly 800,000 years ago, likely using carefully controlled fire.

These findings reinforce the idea that GBY hominins possessed advanced cognitive abilities. They were capable of controlling fire, organizing space around it, and integrating it into complex subsistence strategies. Yet interestingly, while hunting and tool-making required elaborate planning, firewood collection itself appears to have been a more routine activity, based largely on availability rather than careful selection of specific tree species.

Together, these behaviors paint a picture of a community that was both highly skilled and deeply attuned to its environment, returning repeatedly to a place that offered everything they needed to survive and thrive.

The GBY charcoal assemblage provides a unique dataset for examining the intersection of fire use, environmental context, and hominin behavior. These findings refine current models of early fire-related practices and emphasize the importance of local resource availability in shaping patterns of occupation and subsistence during the Middle Pleistocene.

Traverse section of a charcoal fragment of ash observed under an ESEM microscope 

Credit

M. MoncusilPHES

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Journal

Quaternary Science Reviews

DOI

10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109973 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Paleoenvironmental and behavioral insights into firewood selection by early Middle Pleistocene hominins

Article Publication Date

15-Jun-2026

 

Dieters feast their eyes on digital food content to help curb cravings, study shows

University of Bristol

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Images show study lead author Dr Esther Kang consuming digital food content.

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Credit: University of Bristol

New research has revealed people trying to resist their food cravings use social media content featuring indulgent treats as a substitute for eating the real thing.

The study, led by the University of Bristol in the UK, challenges the belief that being shown visuals of tempting unhealthy foods encourages people to indulge in eating them.

Study lead author Dr Esther Kang, Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Bristol, said: “It may sound counterintuitive, but our findings show that people, particularly those trying to control their diet, can use visual food content as a self-regulation tool. Engaging with food imagery may help satisfy cravings without actual consumption. 

 “In today’s digital environment, where food content is highly accessible, this type of visual engagement may offer a simple and non-invasive way to support dietary goals.”

The research, in collaboration with the University at Buffalo School of Management, The State University of New York in the US, conducted three experiments involving a total of 840 participants aged between 19 to 77, combining two online surveys and a controlled laboratory study.

In one experiment, participants viewed short videos on social media depicting both high-calorie and low-calorie chocolate desserts. Dieters spent 30% longer viewing the indulgent option compared to non-dieters. However, when later given access to real chocolates presented in a bowl, dieters consumed significantly less chocolate than non-dieters, suggesting that prior visual exposure may have reduced their desire to indulge. 

Dr Kang said: “The dieters clearly embraced this form of ‘digital foraging’, spending more time looking at the indulgent dessert. Furthermore, contrary to what might be expected, when given the chance to really have some chocolate they exercised much more self-control than the non-dieters.”

Another experiment exposed a group of dieters and non-dieters to short videos depicting junk food like pizza and hamburger and chips alongside images of video clips on social media platforms displaying healthy food options, such as salad, yoghurt and smoothies. Findings showed the dieters were much more likely to look at the unhealthy food imagery and ‘consumed’ the content for on average around 50% longer.

Study co-author Dr Arun Lakshmanan, Associate Professor of Marketing in the University at Buffalo School of Management, explained: “We refer to this process as ‘cross-modal satiation’. People can partially satisfy their desire to eat by consuming food visually rather than physically. This helps explain why engaging with food content on social media does not always translate into increased consumption.”

The study cites that around 60% of women and 40% of men in the US are on a diet, generating a weight loss industry worth an estimated US$257 billion.

Dr Kang added: “Weight loss is a huge business. Our study results suggest there may be a vast array of free online material which could assist people who are trying to resist their unhealthy cravings and steer clear of such treats. While we’re of course not claiming imagery could wholly replace the desire to eat chocolate or other indulgent foods, they could perhaps help people who are watching their calorie intake to reduce or avoid overindulgence.”

 

Image shows study lead author Dr Esther Kang consuming digital food content.

 

Image shows study lead author Dr Esther Kang consuming digital food content.

Credit

University of Bristol

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Journal

Computers in Human Behavior

DOI

10.1016/j.chb.2026.108980 

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Feeding on screens, not on plates: The paradoxical impact of unhealthy food content in digital media

 

New metric identifies at-risk mangroves before they disappear

The tool flagged vulnerable mangrove patches a decade in advance, offering a path toward preventive conservation

University of California - San Diego

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Mangroves in La Paz Bay, Mexico, stand at the edge of urban expansion, where development meets one of the most valuable coastal ecosystems on Earth.  Credit: Octavio Aburto/Scripps Institution of Oceanography. 

 

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Credit: Credit: Octavio Aburto/Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Scientists from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Centro para la Biodiversidad Marina y la Conservación in Mexico have developed a tool that identifies mangrove patches facing the greatest risk of degradation. 

The tool, called the Mangrove Threat Index and described in a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, aims to provide an empirical argument for conservation before vulnerable ecosystems are lost rather than after, said the researchers. The index yields a single number that local planners and communities can use to prioritize specific mangrove patches for protection.

Mangroves are coastal forests that buffer shorelines from storms, store carbon and provide nursery habitat for many species of fish. Despite the tremendous intrinsic and economic importance of the ecosystem services that mangroves provide, roughly half of the world’s mangrove forests are at risk of collapse. 

Conservation-minded scientists are often in the position of reporting losses with increasing precision rather than proactively identifying mangroves that face immediate risks from infrastructure, agriculture or urban expansion. Long-term threats such as ocean warming and sea-level rise are captured by climate models, but they don’t account for the pressures driving most mangrove loss today. 

“We are trying to break the trend of simply reporting how many hectares of mangroves we have lost each year,” said Octavio Aburto Oropeza, Scripps marine biologist and study co-author. “We created this index to try to measure the risk of loss so conservation can prevent damage rather than only react to it.” 

To create the index, the researchers tested whether proximity to human activity could reliably identify which mangrove patches would go on to experience degradation.

The study authors analyzed 530 mangrove patches across 13 regions worldwide, from urbanized coastlines to remote deltas. Scrutinizing 2010 satellite imagery, the team manually mapped patch boundaries and calculated each patch's distance to nearby roads, settlements and agricultural areas. These distances were combined into a single score — the Mangrove Threat Index — scaled from 0 (lowest risk) to 1 (highest risk). To test whether patches with high threat scores were more likely to experience degradation, the researchers compared the 2010 mangrove patches with 2020 satellite imagery and compared their risk classifications against actual losses.

The index proved effective at identifying vulnerable sites. Among patches the index classified as medium-high or high risk in 2010, 78% went on to experience measurable loss of area by 2020, and nearly half of those lost more than half a hectare (1.2 acres). Statistical modeling also revealed that patches with higher index values tended to lose more area, with each unit increase in the index corresponding to a 58% greater likelihood of degradation.

“Mangroves are foundational ecosystems that take decades to recover once degraded. If we want to safeguard biodiversity, coastal protection, fisheries productivity and carbon storage, we need tools that allow us to act early,” said Valentina Platzgummer, a scientist at the Centro para la Biodiversidad Marina y la Conservación in Mexico and lead author of the study. “The Mangrove Threat Index provides a science-based way to identify where pressures are accumulating and where timely intervention can prevent long-term ecological and social costs.”

The Mangrove Threat Index gives planners, communities and policymakers a tool to act before damage occurs — a shift from reactive conservation to what the authors call preventive governance. Because the index relies on accessible data and straightforward calculations, it can be applied by local decision-makers without specialized expertise. Local authorities could, for example, require assessments for any development proposed in high-risk zones.

“Conservation costs money, but mangroves provide ecosystem services for free,” said Aburto. “You can calculate the economic value of the ecosystem services, but without some assessment of risk there isn’t a concrete reason for a decision maker to pay for conservation. It’s like car insurance — the premiums are calculated not just based on the value of the car but also on the risk of damage.”

To demonstrate the index’s utility in the real world, the researchers used it to evaluate 17 mangrove sites near La Paz, Mexico. The index identified a site called El Comitán located in a transition zone between urban and undeveloped lands as particularly vulnerable. That assessment guided a community-led restoration effort now underway that was supported by municipal authorities who used the index results to understand the urgency of intervention.

The authors said the framework could also be applied to other ecosystems where degradation risk correlates with proximity to human activity such as seagrass meadows, saltmarshes or freshwater wetlands. The researchers have made all the data and coding needed to reproduce the analysis publicly available, enabling others to apply or adapt the approach.

In addition to Aburto and Platzgummer, Fabio Favoretto of the University of Plymouth co-authored the study. The research was supported by the Baum Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. 

Read the full paper in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, “Beyond conservation pessimism and optimism: a proactive, risk-based approach to protect mangrove systems.”

In this aerial view of mangroves in Punta Abreojos in the Mexican Pacific, water finds its way, weaving through mangroves that have shaped, and  been shaped by, these flows for generations along the Pacific Coast. 

Coastal modification in the Gulf of California reshapes natural hydrology, with mangroves increasingly exposed to human driven change. 

Credit: Octavio Aburto/Scripps Institution of Oceanography. 

Journal

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Beyond conservation pessimism and optimism: a proactive, risk-based approach to protect mangrove systems

Article Publication Date

16-Apr-2026

 

Study demonstrates: Gifted men exhibit lower levels of conservatism compared to their average-intelligence counterparts

The investigation drew upon data from the Marburg Giftedness Project with 107 gifted adolescents and a matched cohort of 107 average intelligent adolescents

Saarland University

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Maximilian Krolo is the lead author of the study on the political views of gifted individuals.

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Credit: James Zabel

Individuals with high intellectual ability frequently occupy leadership roles across business, science and politics. To date, it has not been definitively established whether a high intelligence quotient correlates with specific political orientations. However, recent research reveals a significant gender-specific distinction: Intellectually gifted men tend to be less conservative than men of average intellectual ability. This study, authored by Maximilian Krolo and Jörn Sparfeldt, was published in the journal Intelligence.

“Our findings indicate that gifted individuals’ political orientations are more similar to those of average intelligent individuals than many might anticipate,” states psychologist and intelligence researcher Maximilian Krolo of Saarland University. The sole notable divergence pertains to social conservatism among men. In this regard, average intelligent men demonstrated higher levels of conservatism compared to gifted men, a difference not observed among women, pointing to a gender-typical dynamic that has received limited scholarly attention thus far,” explains lead author Krolo. He conducted the research in collaboration with Professors Jörn Sparfeldt of Saarland University and Detlef Rost from Marburg University.

The investigation drew upon data from the Marburg Giftedness Project (‘Marburger Hochbegabtenprojekt’), which involved intelligence assessments of more than 7,000 primary school children during the 1987/1988 academic year. Approximately 150 boys and girls attained an intelligence quotient of 130 or above, consistent with the estimated two percent prevalence of gifted individuals in the general population. This cohort was paired with a comparison group of children exhibiting average intelligence and a comparable socio-economic background. Subsequent intelligence testing in the ninth grade identified 107 gifted adolescents and a matched cohort of 107 average intelligent adolescents. These individuals were then observed longitudinally over several decades and surveyed multiple times on a range of topics. “More than 35 years later, we were able to collect data on their political attitudes. Responses were received from 87 gifted and 71 average intelligent adults, amounting to an impressive response rate of approximately 75 percent,” reports educational scientist and psychologist Jörn Sparfeldt.

The study was premised on the hypothesis that individuals with higher intelligence typically exhibit greater openness to new experiences. “We posited that gifted individuals possess an enhanced capacity to engage with complex or nuanced concepts, and therefore might be predisposed to reject rigid political dogma,” explains Maximilian Krolo. A central research question was whether this cognitive flexibility translates into distinct political views in adulthood.

Participants from the Marburg Giftedness Project were asked to position themselves on a conventional left-right political spectrum. They subsequently completed a comprehensive questionnaire assessing political orientation across four thematic domains, which encompassed the following four thematic areas: Regarding economic libertarianism, participants were queried on their views concerning the justice of supporting individuals perceived as less productive. “To assess potential conservative attitudes, we explored participants’ valuation of a shared culture as a fundamental unifying element of society. In the socialism domain, respondents indicated whether they considered income inequalities unjust on the basis of universal human equality,” details Maximilian Krolo. In the liberalism category, respondents evaluated the importance of living life according to their own wishes, provided no harm befell others.

“We analysed differences between gifted and average intelligent groups and examined gender-specific variations. On the straightforward left-right scale, no statistically significant differences emerged; both groups tended to locate themselves near the political centre,” Krolo notes. Analyses across economic libertarianism, socialism, and liberalism likewise revealed no significant differences between groups, even irrespective of gender. “High intelligence does not appear to predispose individuals towards or away from these particular political orientations,” states Krolo.

Conversely, the research identified a pronounced divergence in attitudes towards conservatism. “Our findings suggest that average intelligent men were more inclined to endorse values associated with tradition and stringent social order. By contrast, men with higher intelligence quotients less frequently espoused such traditional conservative views,” Krolo summarizes. Among female participants, no comparable differences were detected. “In the current context, where populist movements across the political spectrum are gaining momentum in Germany and Europe, accompanied by increasing political polarization, it is crucial to empirically investigate these dynamics, rather than relying on speculation. Our study provides a robust empirical foundation as it represents the first systematic examination of the political orientations of gifted adults,” emphasizes Maximilian Krolo.

Previous research, including phases of the Marburg Giftedness Project, indicates that gifted individuals often enjoy advantages stemming from superior academic and professional performance. In areas less directly related to achievement, however, they typically do not differ markedly from average intelligent individuals. “Given that gifted individuals frequently hold influential positions, understanding their perspectives on politics, economics and society is of considerable importance. Their ideas and nuanced viewpoints have the potential to contribute meaningfully to societal progress,” observes Professor Jörn Sparfeldt, who has directed the Marburg Giftedness Project for three years. The current investigation demonstrates that elevated intelligence does not necessarily lead to radical political stances; rather, gifted adults generally exhibit a political diversity and moderation comparable to the broader population. “Further research is warranted, particularly to ascertain whether observed conservative attitudes among some individuals translate into corresponding political behaviours,” adds Jörn Sparfeldt.

Original publication:

Maximilian Krolo, Jörn R. Sparfeldt and Detlef H. Rost: Exploring exceptional minds: Political orientations of gifted adults, published in the journal Intelligence

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2025.101986

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Journal

Intelligence

DOI

10.1016/j.intell.2025.101986 

Method of Research

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Exploring exceptional minds: Political orientations of gifted adults