Fire and Early Man
The definition of fire is the active principle of burning, characterized by the heat and light of combustion; And cultivating it was perhaps one of the biggest technological leaps humans ever surpassed. Fire affected the ancient man in many ways through cause and effect, and every effect created a cause, which resulted in another effect. It allowed the food to be germ-free because it was cooked and since it was cooked it was more digestible and that resulted in more nutrients for the body allowing brain and brain capacity to increase. The fact that food was cooked, the jaw and teeth experienced a decrease in size since meat wasn’t so hard to eat through. Fire also allowed the creation of better and stronger tools thus resulting in hunters having more success with the big game and the food supply to increase. It was also used as a defence against the big carnivorous animals that preyed on humans for food. Fire in all was a great discovery made by a hominid species Homo erectus that was first to create fire and control it. In the following paragraphs I will try to prove that cultivation of fire had in fact a great affect on the ancient man.
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Fire also allowed the hominid Species Homo Erectus to populate other continents other than Africa. Although only Stone Age humans used fire in defence it impacted the population growth by having more humans survive the food hunts. first fire was rarely seen or used because humans could not develop it and the only source of fire would have been from lightning, volcanoes, and piles of dry leaves suddenly igniting. "Specimens have been found in Africa, Europe, China, Georgia, India, and Java"2. " (Walker 21) Because fire allowed the creation of a spear the body had to adapt to the newly developed hunting style. When Homo erectus discovered fire they had adapted many uses to it, one of them was to cook food. Although fires were rare "phenomena" at the time, Paleolithic peoples still found use to it. This led to humans being smarter thus resulting in humans more capable to create and invent new tools and ways of hunting; more capable to adapt to the current environment they lived in and the environment that food led them to. The brain overtime grew larger since more and more nutrients were available to it through the digestion of cooked food rather than raw. They made fire by rubbing one stick back and forth against another, or by turning a stick rapidly in a hole in a dry log. Reduction in postcranial robustness then appeared for the first time among Africans towards the end of the Middle Pleistocene"1So fire in fact affected our body structure making us more upright due to the newly developed weapon "the spear", according to the Professor of Anthropology C. "As they began to cook their food-a much faster process than eating it raw-they had more time to pursue other activities. Thus hunters had greater success and the food supply increased.
Some topics in this essay:
, Loring Brace, Stone Age, Middle Pleistocene, Middle Pleistocene1, homo erectus, Homo Erectus, Africa Specimens, fire allowed, brain capacity, fire defence, allowed creation, walker 21, India Java2, fire allowed creation, species homo erectus, hunters success, food supply, preyed humans, jaw teeth, hominid species homo, preyed humans food, brain brain capacity,
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