The 4,000-year-old fire you need to know about

Written by Staff Writer at CNN

Fire, some believe, is the one constant.

Being under the earth’s heat and pressure can stunt DNA, causing skin and organ damage. It has a significant effect on the environment, and can even kill you.

But things are heating up on land. Not least of all on May 23, the night local legend says a fire started by an eagle accidentally broke out in the woods of central Europe.

This 4,000-year-old eaglet was apparently the victim of a fire that has been burning beneath the ground since May 23,000 years ago. Courtesy Chris Lewis

It is claimed that an eagle landed on the ground and stepped on a fire, burning off the flesh of the host.

Some 4,000 years later, a group of volunteers travelled to Belgium to uncover the burning fire underneath a farm in Gemert, a town in the northern Ardennes region. Their findings are being shown to the public this week.

They described the “rare and fragile site” in a press release, with evidence of fires in other wooded areas dating back to 3,000 years before their discovery there.

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