Little is currently known about how early humans first used fire. That will now change thanks to a new proxy, a measurable substance that can be used to demonstrate forest fires in a distant past. The proxy is the organic substance levoglucosan, a sugar molecule produced during the combustion of vegetation and present in ocean and lake sediments. Ph.D. student Laura Schreuder carried out her research at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ). On 27 May, she will defend her doctoral thesis on the subject at Utrecht University.
Click here for original story, Sugar molecule contributes to reconstruction of prehistoric fire
Source: Phys.org