Ancient Fire Secrets Revealed: The Real Reason Prehistoric Humans Mastered Flames Will Astonish You
The study, published in Frontiers, suggests that fire was used by early humans to preserve meat from large animals such as elephants, hippopotamuses, and rhinoceroses for long periods of time.
Why Some Experts Think Prehistoric Humans First Controlled Fire To Preserve Meat
According to archeologists and study authors Miki Ben-Dor and Ran Barkai, humans would use the smoke from the fire to dry out the meat, therefore extending its shelf life. Fire may have also served as a way to protect the food from scavengers or other potential predators.
“The process of gathering fuel, igniting a fire, and maintaining it over time required significant effort, and they needed a compelling, energy-efficient motive to do so,” Ben-Dor said. “We have proposed a new hypothesis regarding that motive.”
Tel Aviv UniversityDeer bones that help support the researchers’ theory that prehistoric humans learned to control fire in order to smoke and preserve meat.
Ben-Dor and Barkai examined nine different prehistoric sites, including six in Africa, two in Israel, and one in Spain. All of these sites showed early uses of fire dating from 1.8 million to 800,000 years ago.
While these sites included remains of big game animals such as hippopotamuses and rhinoceroses, there was no evidence of roasted bones from meat being cooked via a fire.
“For early humans, fire use was not a given, and at most archaeological sites dated earlier than 400,000 years ago, there is no evidence of the use of fire,” Ben-Dor said. “Nevertheless, at a number of early sites there are clear signs that fire was used, but without burnt bones or evidence of meat roasting.”
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