By  BP, groups of hominins began leaving Africa and settling southern Europe and Asia. Southern Caucasus was occupied by  BP, and northern China was reached by  BP. By the end of the Lower Paleolithic, members of the hominin family were living in what is now China, western Indonesia, and, in Europe, around the Mediterranean and as far north as England, France, southern Germany, and Bulgaria. Their further northward expansion may have been limited by the lack of control of fire: studies of cave settlements in Europe indicate no regular use of fire prior to  BP.