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.
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