Clothing

Garments, fabrics, or other coverings worn
by humans over their bodies

The materials that early humans used to create the first
clothing were probably those they found around themn,
such as pliable grasses, plant leaves, and animal skins.
Because these materials decompose so easily it is difficult
to determine when humans first created clothing.
Researchers studying human lice have suggested
that clothing could have become widespread as early
as 650,000 years ago, while other studies suggest an
origin of about 170,000 years ago. These time periods
correspond to either the beginning or the end of an Ice
Age, indicating that clothing may have first developed
as a way of coping with colder climates.
The first items of clothing were most probably fairly
Crude in their construction, draped around the body
and tied with sinevw. The development of the needle
Clothes can suggest, persuade, connote,
insinuate, or indeed lie..."
Anne Hollander, Seeing Through Clothes (1975)

around 35,000 years ago by Homo sapiens allowed the
creation of more complex clothing--garments that
could be layered and tailored to fit certain parts of the
body. It has been hypothesized that this technology
may have been what enabled Homo sapiens to flourish
as a species over the Neanderthals, who were more
adapted to the cold biologically and thus did not
have the impetus to refine the cutting and sewing
techniques that were needed for warmer clothes.
Although clothing may have been created out of
necessity initially, it has since become far more than a
means of adaptation to the environment. Throughout
history it has been used to protect a wearer from
the elements, but also as a way to convey nonverbal
information, such as signaling differences in wealth,
class, sex, or membership of a particular group.

Cannibalism

Cannibalism
The practice of humans eating the flesh
of other humans

The earliest evidence of cannibalism comes from
butchered bones found in the Grand Dolina Cave
in Spain, dating back to c. 800,000 BCE. These bones
suggest that the practice existed among members of
western Europe's first known human species, Homo
antecessor, and similar findings from later periods
show that it Continued with the emergence of
Homo sapiens and other hominid species. There are
several theories as to why cannibalism first arose: one
hypothesis suggests that it may have been a result of
food shortages; another that it may have functioned as
a form of predator control, by limiting predators' access
to (and therefore taste for) human bodies.
Cannibalism persisted into modern times in
West and Central Africa, the Pacific Islands, Australia,
"I ate his liver with some fava beans and
a nice chianti."
Thomas Harris, The Silence of the Lambs (1988)

Sumatra, North America, and South America. In some
Cultures, human flesh was regarded as just another
type of meat. In others, it was a delicacy for special
occasions: the Maoris of New Zealand would feast on
enemies slain in battle. In Africa, certain human organs
were cooked in rites of sorcery because witch doctors
believed that victims strengths and virtues could be
transferred to those who ate their flesh. In Central
America, the Aztecs are thought to have sacrificed
prisoners of war to their gods and then eaten their flesh
themselves. Australian Aborigines ate their deceased
relatives (endocannibalism) as a mark of respect.
The colonization of these regions between the
fifteenth and nineteenth centuries by European
Christians made cannibalism taboo. However, it
OCcasionally still occurs in extreme circumstances.

Human control of fire

Human Control of Fire

Harnessing fire in order to use its

properties as a practical tool

Controlling fire has been a hallmark of human culture              

since before the existence of modern Homo sapiens.

Early people obtained fire from natural sources,

later developing a variety of methods to create fire

artificially. The ability to create, control, and use fire

remains essential to human civilization.

The first exposure that early humans had to fire most

likely came from wild fires and forest fires sparked by

lightning. While destructive and potentially deadly, they

provided early access to the tool, although it was not

a force that people could control, much less create at

will. There is evidence to show that as early as 1.6 million

years ago Homo erectus groups had harnessed fire to

some extent, and by 400,000 to 250,000 BCE there is clear

evidence that Homo erectus could control and perhaps

"Fire, though it may be quenched, will not

become cool."

Ovid, ancient Roman poet

even create it. By 125,000 BCE, well atter the emergence

of modern Homo sapiens, human use, control, and

creation of fire were widespread and common.

Humanity's mastery of fire had an immediate and

profound impact on its evolution. Fire gave people

protection from wild animals, allowed them to

illuminate the darkness, gave warmth to fend off the

cold, enhanced their ability to fashion tools, gave them

the ability to cook food, and served as an effective

deterrent against insects and pests. Fire was so useful

in the preparation of food that humans became the

only animal that could nutritionally thrive by eating

cooked but not raw food. Fire's importance in culture

is so marked that the word itself became a ubiquitous

metaphor used to describe ideas such as romantic love,

Conflict, destruction, and intense desire.