Scientists have unearthed evidence of a milestone in human culture - the earliest-known use of tobacco - in the remnants of a hearth built by early inhabitants of North America’s interior about 12,300 years ago.

Researchers discovered four charred seeds of a wild tobacco plant within the hearth contents in Utah’s Great Salt Lake Desert, with stone tools and duck bones left over from meals. Until now, the earliest documented use of tobacco came in the form of nicotine residue found inside a smoking pipe from Alabama dating to 3,300 years ago...