when human light the fire
The revolution of cooking was the domestication of fire. Humans learned to domesticate fire around 800,000 years ago. Learning to make and control fire was most likely one of the earliest discoveries pre-humans that walked upright on two legs made. Scientists believe that the controlled use of fire was first achieved by an ancient human ancestor know as Homo Erectus, Neanderthals and the forefathers of Homo Sapiens were using fire on a daily basis.
Figure: Illustration by Maurice Wilson showing Homo erectus using fire and preparing tools.
H. erectus may have been the earliest human relative to have controlled fire.
Human use fire for many things. We need it to warm us up when it is cold outside. We also need it for light many early, used a fire to see in the dark. Another every big reason we need it is for cooking. We need to cook many type of food in order to eat it. We can also use fire for landscaping and blacksmithing.
Archaeologists have uncovered evidence, found at Qesem Cave in Israel, dates back 300,000 to 400,000 years, associating the earliest control of fire with Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals. Now, however, an international team of archaeologists has unearthed what appear to be traces of campfires that flickered 1 million years ago. Consisting of charred animal bones and ashed plant remains, the evidence hails from South Africa’s Wonderwerk Cave, a site of human and early hominin habitation for 2 million years.
Figure: Shaped stone balls from Qesem Cave in Israel
When humans have adapted to eating cooked food.
Not long afterwards, human have adapted to eating cooked food. The body will benefit from eating cooked food immediately. Human have a good food every day effect to digestive system that will be able to function better as more energy than it takes to digest raw meat (food).
As a result, humans can use energy from food in a very short time. and because cooked food provides high energy. So there is no need for a very large stomach. A stomach the size of a human being can now digest food.
Moreover, The knowledge about fire is a major change because fire is part of the development of cooking. This results in better digestion efficiency. causing the remaining energy to develop the body Including helping the human brain to be larger and grow faster than other animal species. In a sense, it can be said that the success of human evolution has also been influenced by cooking. When people began to know how to use fire.
"When humans domesticated fire, they gained control of an obedient and potentially limitless force. Humans could choose when and where to ignite a fame, and they were able to exploit fire for any number of tasks. Most importantly, the power of fire was not limited by the form, structure or strength of the human body. A single woman with a flint or fire stick could burn down an entire forest in a matter of hours. The domestication of fire was a sign of things to come." - Yuval Noah Harari.
- thank you for being an inspiration -
References:
- Bertazzoni.com. "A brief history of cooking"
- Britannica.com. "Cooking".
- History.com. "Human Ancestors Tamed Fire Earlier Than Thought Campfire remains from a South African cave suggest fire control by early humans dates back 1 million years."
- Nhm.ac.uk. "Homo erectus, our ancient ancestor"
- Ran Barkai, Jordi Rosell, Ruth Blasco, and Avi Gopher. 2017. "Fire for a Reason Barbecue at Middle Pleistocene Qesem Cave, Israel". Current AnthropologyVolume 58, Number S16.
- Yuval Noah Harari. "Sapiens A Graphic History, Volume 1: The Birth of Humankind"
- โตมร ศุขปรีชา. "มองโลกผ่าน (ประวัติศาสตร์) อาหารเช้า"
