The Invention of Fire and its Impact on Human Evolution

Obviously, lighters and matches didn’t exist millions of years ago. This is to say that the early humans had to invent it and use it for various purposes such as cooking food, warming, keeping off wild predators, clearing forests for planting, including others.

According to scientists, the controlled use of fire was most likely an invention of our ancestor, Homo Erectus during the Lower Paleolithic period or Early Stone Age.

Archaeologists have in the past discovered evidence of fire associated with humans in various Lower Paleolithic sites such as Lake Turkana region in Kenya and Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa.

Other sites containing possible evidence in Africa include Gadeb in Ethiopia and Swartkrans in South Africa, with evidence dating approximately 600,000- 1.6 million years ago.

Outside Africa, evidence was found at the Lower Paleolithic sites of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov in Israel, Beeches Pit in the UK, Zhoukoudian site in China, and Qesem Cave in Israel.

Burned clay, charred wood, oxidized patches of earth, burned ashes, and bone fragments were discovered on these sites.

How Was Fire Invented?

There are claims that the Homo Erectus had always known about fire since it occurred naturally- like when lightning strikes resulted in forest fires or when two rocks generated sparks after hitting them together. They probably started their own fires from fires that were already going on and after discovering its usefulness, they decided to invent ways to make it themselves.

Another possibility is that they could have invented fire by rubbing two sticks together, hitting flints together, or hitting two rocks together to produce sparks. As for the source of fuel, it’s likely that relict wood was used. If wood was not available, alternative fuel sources such as cut turf, peat, animal bone, animal dung, straw, and seaweed could have been used.

Indirect Evidence on the History of Fire Invention

According anthropologist Richard Wrangham and archaeologist JAJ Gowlett, an indirect piece of evidence regarding early fires is that the Homo Erectus evolved distinctively smaller mouths, teeth, as well as the digestive system compared to the earlier hominids.

These archaeologists argued that the adoption of cooking food which softens it and makes it much easier to digest may have largely contributed to these changes.

Hearth Construction

Hearths or earth ovens are suspected to have been first used in the Upper Paleolithic period (ca 20, 000-40, 000 years ago). They were most likely used for cooking food, heating, and even burning clay figurines to hardness.

The invention of fire without a doubt played a critical role in human evolution. According to Wrangham, cooked food allowed for greater brain development and evolution in Homo Erectus. It played a huge role in refining the human beings we are today.