A team of researchers, led by the British Museum, have made a major breakthrough in their study of human evolution following excavations at a disused clay pit in Barnham, near Thetford.

Until now, the oldest known evidence of fire-making was from 50,000 years ago in northern France, but the discovery in Suffolk shows humans were doing so 350,000 years earlier.

The evidence consists of a patch of heated clay, heat-shattered flint handaxes and two small pieces of iron pyrite.

Heat-shattered handaxe found adjacent to 400,000-year-old campfire at Barnham (Image: Jordan Mansfield)

Discovery of the first fragment of iron pyrite in 2017 at Barnham (Image: Jordan Mansfield www.jordanmansfield.com)

It has taken the team four years to prove the heated clay was not caused by wildfire.

Dr Rob Davis, who led the project alongside Professor Nick Ashton, said: "The implications are enormous.

"The........

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