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Fire Pit Dated to Be Over 50,000 Years Old Thu Nov 18,10:10 AM ET Top Stories - AP By AMY GEIER EDGAR, Associated Press Writer COLUMBIA, S.C. - In the growing debate about when people first appeared on this continent, a leading archaeologist said Wednesday he has discovered what could be sooty evidence of human occupation in North America tens of thousands of years earlier than is commonly believed.University of South Carolina archaeologist Al Goodyear said he has uncovered a layer of charcoal from a possible hearth or fire pit at a site near the Savannah River. Samples from the...

Summary: When did humans really begin to control fire and use it for their daily needs? Scientists discovered in the Qesem Cave, an archaeological site near present-day Rosh Ha'ayin, the earliest evidence -- dating to around 300,000 years ago -- of unequivocal repeated fire building over a continuous period. These findings help answer the question and hint that those prehistoric humans already had a highly advanced social structure and intellectual capacity.

I am going camping next weekend and think it would be cool to start a campfire using a fire bow drill. I have all the parts, but can only seem to get just a bit of smoke at best. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I put pine tar on the string to keep it from slipping.The wood for the fire board is cedar, and the spindle is made of poplar.I watch Survivorman on the Science Channel, and he makes it look so easy, but it is not easy!

Decaffeinated coffee may be harmful to heart 15:00 16 November 2005 NewScientist.com news service Gaia Vince Decaffeinated coffee may have a harmful effect on the heart by increasing the levels of a specific cholesterol in the blood, researchers say. Their explanation is that caffeine-free coffee is often made from a type of bean with a higher fat content. Robert Superko, at the Piedmont-Mercer Center for Health and Learning in Atlanta, Georgia, US, and colleagues looked at the effects of coffee on 187 people. The group was split into three similar-sized groups for the three-month study: one group drank three to...

TRUCKEE, Calif. (AP) - Archaeologists have unearthed a cooking hearth in the Sierra Nevada where they believe the Donner Party gathered for meager meals in the months before starvation led to the country's most famous tale of cannibalism. Government and university researchers said Wednesday that bone fragments they located appear to be large enough to allow for DNA testing to determine if they are human. They also found lead shot, musket balls, jewelry beads and wagon parts. If some of the bones are human, they would be the first physical evidence to back up survivors' accounts that some members of...

THIS IS GOING to come as a nasty shock to those who know me, and to those who are sure they do, but I think Dr. Laura Schlessinger might be on to something. The blunt and conservative talk radio phenomenon has churned out yet another book, and even its title is designed to irritate: The Proper Care & Feeding of Husbands (Harper-Collins, $24.95). Feminists can be counted on to pull their hair out in handfuls at what this title suggests. And men are going to feel more like the family pet than the lord of the realm. Dr. Laura doesn't...

Ancient hearth tests carbon dating Bob Beale ABC Science Online Monday, 17 November 2003 Rock art at Serra da Capivara National Park, home of the Pedra Furada site in Brazil (Embassy of Brazil, London) People were keeping warm by a fire in a rock shelter at least 56,000 years ago, according to new analysis of what may be the oldest known human record in the Americas. This is about 40,000 years earlier than generally agreed for when people first arrived in the Americas. The international team of researchers dated charcoal from a hearth at the controversial Pedra Furada archaeological site...