The history of mankind is full of various puzzles, and the older the date, the more mysterious the event and its circumstances, both regarding the acquisition of articulate speech and the transition to upright posture, and the question of when people learned to make fire. There is no reason to argue that this skill has dramatically changed the lives of the distant ancestors of modern people. The quality of food improved, which could not but affect the life expectancy. In the conditions of glaciation, which occurred precisely at the initial stages of human existence, the fire helped keep warm. He was irreplaceable when hunting.
Primitive man and fire
Very many natural phenomena, one way or another, are associated with fire. More than a million years ago, volcanic eruptions occurred more often than now, and posed a serious danger to all animals, including humans. Another variant of a collision with fire is no less frequent forest and steppe fires.
However, if you look closely at mythology, it turns out that the first fire man received was of heavenly origin. The most famous Greek myth, according to which Prometheus stole a spark from the forge of Hephaestus and brought it to people, hiding it in an empty reed. Similar traditions existed among other peoples, including various Indian tribes who could not contact the Greeks. In view of this, the assumption that primitive people first used fire from igniting something after a lightning strike is considered by scientists as the most likely.
Artificial Fire
The most important and difficult thing for primitive man was to overcome the natural fear of fire. When this happened, he could not help but discover that it was not at all necessary to wait for a strong thunderstorm or a volcanic eruption: when creating stone tools as a result of hitting one stone against another, sparks flashed. However, this method was very laborious and took at least an hour. In areas of human settlement, where there was high humidity, he was completely impossible.
Another physical process that gives an idea of how ancient people learned to make fire is friction. Over time, a person made sure that he simplifies the procedure even more than just friction, and drilling. For this, a dry tree was used. Resting a dry stick against it, a man quickly rotated it between his palms. A groove formed in the tree, in which wood powder accumulated. With a high intensity of movements, it flashed, and it was already possible to make a fire.
Keeping fire
If we again turn to mythology, it becomes clear that when people learned how to make fire, they were very concerned about maintaining it. For example, even Roman customs required that priestesses be in the temple of the goddess Vesta, busy preserving an unquenchable fire on her altar. Even the lighting of candles in Christian churches by many scholars is considered a relic of the primitive need to keep fire.
Ethnographic data show: although people learned how to make fire and simplified this process as much as possible, preserving the existing one was a priority. This is understandable: it was not always possible to find suitable stones or a dry tree. Meanwhile, without tribal fire, death threatened. The Indians not only supported unquenchable bonfires at their huts, but also carried a smoldering tinder with them. Most likely, this was the behavior of primitive man.
Dating problem
It is impossible to finally put an end to the debate about in what period people learned to make fire. The researcher can only rely on data from archeology, and extremely few remain from human sites of a million years old. That is why scientists prefer to use wide dating. Concurring that people learned to make fire in the Paleolithic era, experts on the history of primitive society indicate that this could happen in the period from 1.4 million to 780 thousand years ago.
Finding up this event for 300 thousand years helped find in the cave of Wonderwerk in the Republic of South Africa. A team of archaeologists led by Peter Beaumont managed to find a cultural layer in which the remains of wood ash and charred animal bones were preserved. Further studies showed that their burning occurred directly in the cave, that is, the possibility of their accidental getting there is excluded. Traces of soot were found on the walls of the cave.
Pathfinder
Thanks to these discoveries, the question was again raised about what kind of person learned to make fire. A million years ago, the genus Homo was represented by various species, of which only one survived - Homo sapiens (Homo sapiens). The reconstruction of anthropogenesis is complicated by a small amount of material evidence of the existence of a particular species, that is, skeletal remains. In view of this, the existence of species such as Homo rudolfensis is a debatable issue.
If we put on one scale the stages of anthropogenesis and evidence of when people learned to make fire, then the earliest point is the existence of the species Homo erectus (Homo erectus). But whether the ability to make fire was already familiar, or whether it happened from time to time, is still impossible to find out.
The Importance of Mastering Fire
When people learned to artificially produce fire, their evolution accelerated significantly. Changes affected even their appearance. The use of fire in cooking has significantly increased energy consumption. If an ordinary animal spends about 125 kcal per kilogram of weight during its life, then a person is six times more.
Mastery of fire sharply distinguished man from a number of other animals. Thanks to the fire, it became possible to more effectively pursue large predators and drive them into traps, to protect their sites from invasion. Fire was also used to process wooden tools, which made them more durable and solid.
Affected this event and the mental sphere. When people learned to make fire, he immediately became an object of worship. Various religious cults began to take shape, in which the god of fire occupied a central position. Therefore, it is unlikely that the assumption that it was the mastery of fire that allowed a person to reach today's heights is unlikely.