These Neanderthal fire pits offer an extraordinarily precise snapshot of ancient life Researchers used traces of Earth’s changing magnetic field in sediments to identify the activity of ancient humans.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01688-z?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=e758dd535c-nature-briefing-daily-20240606&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b27a691814-e758dd535c-50432164 More than 50,000 years ago, Neanderthals passed through a rugged river valley in Spain, leaving behind stone tools, animal bones and dozens of fire pits (and the world’s oldest-known fossil of human poo). These traces were found in the same layer of soil, suggesting that they were left by a single group of Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) and around the same time.