Researchers examined remains from two particularly large species of carp found at the site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov in Israel and found that the fish had been cooked a whopping 780,000 years ago. If true, that makes this the oldest known use of fire for cooking… by, oh, only about 600,000 years! It’s tough to pinpoint exactly when humans started cooking because it’s hard to determine what an ancient hearth was used for, but the earliest definitive evidence comes from about 170,000 years ago. This study presents a decent amount of evidence, but the proof came in the enamel of the fish teeth. It showed evidence of being heated to 400-930 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a good range for well-done fish. We know that humans have been harnessing fire for at least 1.7 million years, so this may not be overly surprising, but it certainly adds a valuable data point — particularly because cooking had such a huge impact on our physiology.