Early Neanderthals were probably striking sparks to make fire in England 400,000 years ago — roughly 350,000 years earlier than the previous convincing evidence, revealed by baked earth, heat-shattered handaxes and pieces of pyrite found at Barnham.
scienceblog.com
A repeatedly heated patch of clay, fire-damaged tools and locally rare pyrite form the earliest convincing archaeological case for deliberate fire-making, although no human remains identify the makers directly.