First Fire

[senior chef]

A few evenings ago I was watching a program on PBS about early humans. In the program they talked about mankind eating meat that had been killed in a wild forest fire. That meat not only tasted better, it was also easier to digest. However, man did not yet know how to create fire.

That got me to thinking. I wonder how man 1st learned to make fire ?
You, the reader, and I both know that fire can be created by rapid friction between two pieces of wood. But, early man did not, could not, have known that. So, what might that early human have been doing which resulted in the 1st man-made fire ?

The discovery of how to make fire, was arguably the greatest step forward in the evolution/survival of man-kind. Not only did fire cook our meat, it kept us warm, and kept wild , dangerous animals at bay. Without the knowledge of how to make fire on command, it is possible we might not have survived.

 

[JonSR77]

A few evenings ago I was watching a program on PBS about early humans. In the program they talked about mankind eating meat that had been killed in a wild forest fire. That meat not only tasted better, it was also easier to digest. However, man did not yet know how to create fire.

That got me to thinking. I wonder how man 1st learned to make fire ?
You, the reader, and I both know that fire can be created by rapid friction between two pieces of wood. But, early man did not, could not, have known that. So, what might that early human have been doing which resulted in the 1st man-made fire ?

The discovery of how to make fire, was arguably the greatest step forward in the evolution/survival of man-kind. Not only did fire cook our meat, it kept us warm, and kept wild , dangerous animals at bay. Without the knowledge of how to make fire on command, it is possible we might not have survived.

They had the equivalent of modern intelligence. They witnessed forest fires. They saw the properties of fire. They used flint tools, which means they were familiar with sparks from flint. I imagine some of those sparks ignited surrounding dry grass...as simple as that, they would have known how to make fire.

 

[Murrmurr]

Forests and fields catch fire for various reasons, like lightening, volcanic activity, natural gas combustion. I imagine a wildfire was probably early human's first exposure to it. But I doubt it took them very long to figure out how to harness fire. Some early people had larger brains than we do. I'm sure they knew how to use them.

 

[chic]

Forests and fields catch fire for various reasons, like lightening, volcanic activity, natural gas combustion. I imagine a wildfire was probably early human's first exposure to it. But I doubt it took them very long to figure out how to harness fire. Some early people had larger brains than we do. I'm sure they knew how to use them.

My thoughts also. It might have been easier to keep a fire started by nature going through artificial means, like put a stick in it to make a torch and transfer the flame where you want until you figure it out? Coals hold heat beautifully and can spark into flame as well.

 

[hollydolly]

It could simply have been a couple of children playing with sticks !

 

[Paco Dennis]

The 1981 REAL popular movie "Quest for fire" was a look at how survival depended on keeping your fire as you moved to different hunting grounds.

How accurate is the movie Quest for Fire?


Quest for Fire presented a generally accurate portrayal of Europe during one of the cold periods (80,000 years ago, according to the film's title card), but almost all researchers agreed that the movie was flat-out wrong in its suggestion that Neanderthals were incapable of making fire.

 

[Flarbalard]

The 1981 REAL popular movie "Quest for fire" was a look at how survival depended on keeping your fire as you moved to different hunting grounds.

How accurate is the movie Quest for Fire?


Quest for Fire presented a generally accurate portrayal of Europe during one of the cold periods (80,000 years ago, according to the film's title card), but almost all researchers agreed that the movie was flat-out wrong in its suggestion that Neanderthals were incapable of making fire.

At the time a friend of mine, and anthropology prof, critiqued the movie by saying, " It's like using a Keystone Cops movie as a documentary portrayal of law enforcement".

 

[Paco Dennis]

Anthropologist studies are where to find accurate info...of course. Actually Wiki does an overview.

"Control of fire by early humans​

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 cultural advances allowed human geographic dispersal, cultural innovations, and changes to diet and behavior. Additionally, creating fire allowed human activity to continue into the dark and colder hours of the evening.

Claims for the earliest definitive evidence of control of fire by a member of Homo range from 1.7 to 2.0 million years ago (Mya).[1] Evidence for the "microscopic traces of wood ash" as controlled use of fire by Homo erectus, beginning roughly 1 million years ago, has wide scholarly support.[2][3] Flint blades burned in fires roughly 300,000 years ago were found near fossils of early but not entirely modern Homo sapiens in Morocco.[4] Fire was used regularly and systematically by early modern humans to heat treat silcrete stone to increase its flake-ability for the purpose of toolmaking approximately 164,000 years ago at the South African site of Pinnacle Point.[5] Evidence of widespread control of fire by anatomically modern humans dates to approximately 125,000 years ago.[6]

Contents​

• 1 Control of fire
• 2 Lower Paleolithic evidence
  • 2.1 Africa
  • 2.2 Asia
    • 2.2.1 Middle East
    • 2.2.2 Pacific Islands
• 3 Middle Paleolithic evidence
  • 3.1 Africa
  • 3.2 Asia
    • 3.2.1 Middle East
  • 3.3 Europe
• 4 Impact on human evolution
  • 4.1 Cultural innovation
    • 4.1.1 Uses of fire by early humans
    • 4.1.2 Protection and hunting
    • 4.1.3 Tool and weapon making
    • 4.1.4 Art and ceremonial uses
    • 4.1.5 Developments and expansion in early hominid societies
  • 4.2 Environment and nighttime activity
  • 4.3 The cooking hypothesis
    • 4.3.1 Changes to diet
    • 4.3.2 Biological changes
    • 4.3.3 Criticism
• 5 See also
• 6 References
• 7 External links"

the Hollywood version was nuts....I couldn't watch it.

 

[Geezer Garage]

One word, Zippo.

 

[Alligatorob]

It might have been easier to keep a fire started by nature going through artificial means, like put a stick in it to make a torch and transfer the flame where you want until you figure it out?

I think you are right, before we figured out how to make fire we would have retained it in the form of coals and the like.

In the program they talked about mankind eating meat that had been killed in a wild forest fire.

When I was in college I worked for the Forest Service as a firefighter. Most of the fires I fought were natural, caused by lighting.

When on a fire we would sometimes kill a pine grouse, easy to do by hitting it with something, and then put it into some coals with the feathers still on. As the feathers burned and skin charred a bit the bird cooked. Sometimes it was edible. I can imagine early man doing similar things. It maybe that the first animal was killed by the fire and cooked accidentally.

It could simply have been a couple of children playing with sticks !

Another likely explanation, LOL!

 

[Murrmurr]

My thoughts also. It might have been easier to keep a fire started by nature going through artificial means, like put a stick in it to make a torch and transfer the flame where you want until you figure it out? Coals hold heat beautifully and can spark into flame as well.

Coal! Good one! It's extremely likely early man was just walking alongside some natural coal-bed somewhere that had live embers glowing in it, and high-fived and fist-bumped each other for a solid 10 minutes.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

I agree with JonSR77, we are intellectually the same today, as when we hadn't yet started a fire. We are fantastic noticers. We notice things, then figure out why that happened. It could have been anything. Maybe making a hole in a stick with another stick, and it got hot. Fire is hot- AHA.

 

[Murrmurr]

I agree with JonSR77, we are intellectually the same today, as when we hadn't yet started a fire. We are fantastic noticers. We notice things, then figure out why that happened. It could have been anything. Maybe making a hole in a stick with another stick, and it got hot. Fire is hot- AHA.

Fire is also a natural occurrence, like from lightening strikes and volcanoes and such. And there was plenty of that kind of activity back then.

 

[senior chef]

I agree with JonSR77, we are intellectually the same today, as when we hadn't yet started a fire. We are fantastic noticers. We notice things, then figure out why that happened. It could have been anything. Maybe making a hole in a stick with another stick, and it got hot. Fire is hot- AHA.

I was wondering the very same thing.
To create fire with two sticks it takes considerable friction and much non-stop spinning.

I had forgotten about using flint to create fire. I can clearly see how one person was trying to create an arrowhead or spear point and a spark flies off and ignites a clump of dried grass.