Evidence of striking fire from pyrite and flint dates to roughly 400,000 years ago at a Neanderthal site in Suffolk, England, and Ötzi the Iceman also carried pyrite.
Thermal decomposition of pyrite into FeS starts at 540 °C, with sulfur driven off as temperatures approach 700 °C.
Exfoliated two-dimensional FeS₂ nanosheets achieved capacities of 1,200 mAh/g as lithium-ion battery anodes in 2021 research at Trinity College Dublin.