Did *advertiser censored* Sapiens Use Fire to Cook Food Over 1 Million Years Ago?

http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/201...nd-signs-of-ancient-man-made-fire/?hpt=hp_bn1

April 2nd, 2012
03:00 PM ET

Scientists find signs of ancient man-made fire


Scientists have uncovered remnants of an ancient fire, at least 1 million years old, at the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa.

You may be clueless about how to start a fire in the wilderness without matches or a lighter, but our ancestors may have figured it out long ago.

Scientists have uncovered evidence that humans used fire at least 1 million years ago, potentially for cooking purposes. The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Michael Chazan of the University of Toronto led an investigation into the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa. The team found burned bones and ash plant material, including grasses, leaves and twigs. The bones originated from a variety of animals: small rodents, antelopes and horselike mammals....

This article says that "Prior to the new findings, scientists had good evidence that humans had total control over fire at least 400,000 years ago." However, there is a well-studied site in Israel with evidence for controlled use of fire dated to about 790,000 years ago. This new South African site pushes the date of fire use by pre-human ancestors (*advertiser censored* erectus) back about 200,000 years.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4863378...s-trace-ancient-signs-fires-use/#.T3xLOPDXEUU

I thought they used microwaves like everyone else?:waitasec:

I think they employed fire that long ago, whether or not it was to cook their food is the real question. As cave dwellers, of course they used fire for light and warmth... I'm certain as long as tools have been used, fire too.

Makes me wonder, though, if the bones of animals found weren't near the fire to simply destroy the garbage of eating-- it wouldn't be prudent to leave scraps around the home site to attract other scavengers. But seriously, it's logical to think that a bone thrown into the fire prematurely might get fetched back out by a disgruntled elder and eaten until it was properly finished (like every other family dinner occurrence, lol). So... yeah, I don't think it would take a 100,000 years between using fire and cooking meat. Nope, probably not even a full year.

So, I say YES, they cooked their food a million years ago, and maybe even close to 2 million years ago (tools being employed at about 1.8-2.2 million years ago-- as it stands today, per this wiki page).

*advertiser censored* erectus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think we're in another big era of discovery... between DNA sequencing and our ability to access very remote edges of the earth, I think we're set to learn more and more about those who came before us.

Hey, and there's nothing like a million years of existence to put your personal problems into perspective, imo.

Does anyone else besides me wonder what future archeologists will think when thousands of years from now, they start digging around in the remains of our houses and garbage dumps?

mysteriew said:

Does anyone else besides me wonder what future archeologists will think when thousands of years from now, they start digging around in the remains of our houses and garbage dumps?

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You're assuming we don't destroy ourselves before then. JMO

Steely Dan said:

http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/201...nd-signs-of-ancient-man-made-fire/?hpt=hp_bn1

April 2nd, 2012
03:00 PM ET

Scientists find signs of ancient man-made fire

Scientists have uncovered remnants of an ancient fire, at least 1 million years old, at the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa.

You may be clueless about how to start a fire in the wilderness without matches or a lighter, but our ancestors may have figured it out long ago.

Scientists have uncovered evidence that humans used fire at least 1 million years ago, potentially for cooking purposes. The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Michael Chazan of the University of Toronto led an investigation into the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa. The team found burned bones and ash plant material, including grasses, leaves and twigs. The bones originated from a variety of animals: small rodents, antelopes and horselike mammals....

Click to expand...

Did they use fire to cook? Sure, on the nights when they didn't call out for pizza or Chinese.

mysteriew said:

Does anyone else besides me wonder what future archeologists will think when thousands of years from now, they start digging around in the remains of our houses and garbage dumps?

Click to expand...

I have thought of,that, too!
they'll probably think that the graffiti on buildings, walls, etc. are religious, sacred praises to our deities!

IHAVENOCLUE said:

I have thought of,that, too!
they'll probably think that the graffiti on buildings, walls, etc. are religious, sacred praises to our deities!

Click to expand...

When they find remains in garbage dumps they will believe that we didn't do burial rites or something.

Steely Dan said:

You're assuming we don't destroy ourselves before then. JMO

Click to expand...

I prefer to believe that thousands of years from now that my future relatives will have those giant heads/big brains and withered bodies and endless life spans. And that they will look at pictures of the the ancient remains and civilizations (ours) as being so primitive that they cannot imagine actually doing phyical labor, walking instead of flying with individual flying units. A future where everything is always done with the brain.

Quiche said:

I think they employed fire that long ago, whether or not it was to cook their food is the real question. As cave dwellers, of course they used fire for light and warmth... I'm certain as long as tools have been used, fire too.

Makes me wonder, though, if the bones of animals found weren't near the fire to simply destroy the garbage of eating-- it wouldn't be prudent to leave scraps around the home site to attract other scavengers. But seriously, it's logical to think that a bone thrown into the fire prematurely might get fetched back out by a disgruntled elder and eaten until it was properly finished (like every other family dinner occurrence, lol). So... yeah, I don't think it would take a 100,000 years between using fire and cooking meat. Nope, probably not even a full year.

So, I say YES, they cooked their food a million years ago, and maybe even close to 2 million years ago (tools being employed at about 1.8-2.2 million years ago-- as it stands today, per this wiki page).

*advertiser censored* erectus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Click to expand...

So far there is just no evidence for fire being used by hominids as far back as tool-making (about 2 million years ago, *advertiser censored* habilis). There are no examples of ash pits found in association with the tools or fossils of that time. But no evidence does not mean that it wasn't happening and perhaps some day someone will make a discovery that will push the date back another 1 million years.

Cypros said:

So far there is just no evidence for fire being used by hominids as far back as tool-making (about 2 million years ago, *advertiser censored* habilis). There are no examples of ash pits found in association with the tools or fossils of that time. But no evidence does not mean that it wasn't happening and perhaps some day someone will make a discovery that will push the date back another 1 million years.

Click to expand...

Well, yeah-- it's all deeply buried beneath???? what? But, caves give us provocative access and singular examples in which to draw inferences, but little else. Oh, but I DO love a cave!


As for our own refuge-- omg, mountains of it, canyons full, oceanic trenches bearing tribute to our broken plastics and God only knows what else. But the thing that bothers me the most (maybe because I know how much can be learned from them) are the forever bundles of plastic wrapped poopy "disposable" diapers!! (baby and adult!) They'll wonder what on earth was wrong with us that we didn't know poop was biodegradable, and figure it out so quickly-- we were brain damaged by the stupid adulterated food we ate (and saved)!! :blushing:

Quiche said:

Well, yeah-- it's all deeply buried beneath???? what? But, caves give us provocative access and singular examples in which to draw inferences, but little else. Oh, but I DO love a cave!


As for our own refuge-- omg, mountains of it, canyons full, oceanic trenches bearing tribute to our broken plastics and God only knows what else. But the thing that bothers me the most (maybe because I know how much can be learned from them) are the forever bundles of plastic wrapped poopy "disposable" diapers!! (baby and adult!) They'll wonder what on earth was wrong with us that we didn't know poop was biodegradable, and figure it out so quickly-- we were brain damaged by the stupid adulterated food we ate (and saved)!! :blushing:

Click to expand...

I think they'll also find a lot of still edible twinkies.