The study - conducted by Israeli universities in collaboration with European professionals - marks the earliest signs of cooking by prehistoric humans, dating back to 780,000 years ago.

Israeli researchers marked the earliest signs of cooking by prehistoric humans to 780,000 years ago – predating the available data by some 600,000 years – when they found the remains of a «carp-like fish» at the Gesher Benot Ya’aqov archaeological site in northern Israel.

Cooking is defined as the ability to process food by controlling the temperature at which it is heated and includes a wide range of methods.

The question of how early mankind began using fire to cook food has been the subject of much scientific debate for over a century, and until now, the earliest signs of cooking dated back to approximately 170,000 years ago.