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Control of fire by early humans
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<p>The control of fire by early humans was a critical technology enabling the <a href="/facts/Evolution/qE5amP6a">evolution</a> of <a href="/facts/Human/rlcTENsr">humans</a>. <a href="/facts/Fire/M6XwR3am">Fire</a> provided a source of <a href="/facts/Heat/e9QqQ0B2">warmth</a> and <a href="/facts/Lighting/Gk54r8xE">lighting</a>, protection from <a href="/facts/Predators/JEGdrX3f">predators</a> (especially at night), a way to create more advanced <a href="/facts/Hunting/z1XhJdB2">hunting</a> tools, and a method for <a href="/facts/Cooking/YWVfGWD1">cooking</a> food. These cultural advances allowed human geographic dispersal, cultural innovations, and changes to diet and behavior. Additionally, <a href="/facts/Fire_making/gTQlzrY2">creating fire</a> allowed human activity to continue into the dark and colder hours of the evening. </p><p>Claims for the earliest definitive evidence of control of fire by a member of <i><a href="/facts/Homo/qvJtEBr2">Homo</a></i> range from 1.7 to 2.0 million years ago (<a href="/facts/Year/51V242hh">Mya</a>). Evidence for the "microscopic traces of wood ash" as controlled use of fire by <i><a href="/facts/Homo_erectus/5Xqv3CdP">Homo erectus</a></i>, beginning roughly 1 million years ago, has wide scholarly support. Some of the earliest known traces of controlled fire were found at the <a href="/facts/Daughters_of_Jacob_Bridge/tIMEQ1C9">Daughters of Jacob Bridge</a>, <a href="/facts/Israel/dEe3IcaY">Israel</a>, and dated to ~790,000 years ago. At the site, archaeologists also found the oldest likely evidence of controlled use of fire to <a href="/facts/Cooking/YWVfGWD1">cook</a> food ~780,000 years ago. However, some studies suggest cooking started ~1.8 million years ago. </p><p>Flint blades burned in fires roughly 300,000 years ago were found near fossils of early but not entirely modern <i><a href="/facts/Homo_sapiens/rlcTENsr">Homo sapiens</a></i> in <a href="/facts/Morocco/6ly8170M">Morocco</a>. Fire was used regularly and systematically by early modern humans to heat treat <a href="/facts/Silcrete/cf1gA02g">silcrete</a> stone to increase its flake-ability for the purpose of toolmaking approximately 164,000 years ago at the South African site of <a href="/facts/Pinnacle_Point/qyEyfk9B">Pinnacle Point</a>. Evidence of widespread control of fire by <a href="/facts/Anatomically_modern_humans/AxD254MP">anatomically modern humans</a> dates to approximately 125,000 years ago. </p>