Humans master fire
Warmth, light, safety — and food that is easier to digest
See it on the timeline →In depth
Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa preserves burnt bone and ash from around a million years ago. Richard Wrangham's cooking hypothesis argues that cooked food raises energy yield enough to have financed the human brain, which is unusually expensive to run. Fire also extended the day: waking hours lengthened, and the social hours after sunset are seen as a plausible arena for language, planning and cultural transmission.
For children
Controlling fire changed everything. It gave warmth at night, scared off predators, and made food softer and easier to eat. Around the fire people could sit together after dark — and that is probably where storytelling began.
Connects to
Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org