Control of fire by early humans

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Control of fire by early humans

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The gradual technological mastery of fire by early humans, transforming survival and culture.

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2Day Chrono-Wiki & Primary Historical Archives

Origins & Early Life

The control of fire by early humans was a critical technology enabling the evolution of humans. Fire provided a source of warmth and lighting, protection from predators (especially at night), a way to create more advanced hunting tools, and a method for cooking food. These advances allowed human geographic dispersal, cultural innovations, and changes to diet and behavior. Evidence for using fire versus fire-making follows different timelines, as the earliest human fires were probably embers from lightning-ignited wildfires, carried back to a cave. Claims for the earliest evidence of using fire by a member of Homo range from as far back as 2.0 million years ago.

Career & Major Achievements

Evidence of human use of fire has been found 1.79 million years ago in Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa where charred bones deep in the cave beyond the reach of natural wildfires have been found. There is scholarly support for "microscopic traces of wood ash" as evidence for use of fire by Homo erectus beginning ~1 million years ago. At the Daughters of Jacob Bridge, Golan Heights, archaeologists found not only traces of fire usage, but also the oldest likely evidence for cooking of food (mainly, fish teeth that had been heated deep in a cave), dated to ~780,000 years ago. However, some studies suggest cooking could have started as early as ~1.8 million years ago, as indicated by reduced molar size and other physiological changes of Homo erectus. The oldest definitive evidence for fire making (i.e. igniting a new fire) dates to ~400,000 years ago at a Neanderthal site in eastern England, where burnt soil was found along with fire-cracked flint handaxes and two fragments of iron pyrite, used to strike sparks with flint.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

Fire was used regularly and systematically by early modern humans to heat-treat silcrete stone to increase its flake-ability for toolmaking ~164,000 years ago at the South African site of Pinnacle Point. Evidence of the use of controlled fire becomes far more widespread, frequent, and convincing 400–300,000 years ago and becomes nearly as universal in its use by anatomically modern humans around 125–120,000 years ago as its use in the modern day. The use and control of fire was a gradual process proceeding through more than one stage. One was a change in habitat, from a dense forest where wildfires were rare but difficult to escape to a savanna where wildfires were common but easier to survive. Such a change may have occurred about 3 million years ago, when the savanna expanded in East Africa due to a cooler and drier climate.

Historical Fact-Check Quiz: Control of fire by early humans

True or False: “The earliest definitive evidence for *making* a new fire dates to approximately 1.79 million years ago in Wonderwerk Cave.”

Answer (FALSE ❌): The earliest definitive evidence for *making* a new fire is dated to around 400,000 years ago at a Neanderthal site in eastern England.

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