Expert: John Shea - 10/13/2010

Question
I was talking with a friend about what could have lead our primitive prehistoric ancestors to discover/invent fire? He said that maybe playfulness had a part to "play" for example children throwing stones for target practice and some stones produced sparks that may have set some of the dry grass on fire for a little while. And so playfulness could have been a factor. Can we assume that the children were playful? I've seen videos of deer that appeared to be frolicking so why not children? But is it only children that are playful in past human bands? (What is playfulness?) (Too many questions); could playfulness have been one of many factors that lead to discoveries and inventions? Really accidental discoveries. I am mainly thinking of production of fire with stones like flint not with wood which seems more complex. Observation could have played a very small part. No doubt there were other discoveries/inventions but was fire an original practice?Sorry for the verbosity. What do you think? Thank you.


Answer
That children play (and played in prehistoric times) there is no doubt.
That such play led to discoveries and technical inventions is also likely.
Such play might have led to discovery of spark production, but it takes a lot of such sparks, as well as the assembly of just the right kinds of fuel to start a fire.  (I know this because I teach primitive firemaking skills)
In my opinion, play involving striking stones is unlikely to have resulted in fire.
The most common method for starting fire among recent preindustrial humans is actually by friction, rather than strike-a-lights.  My guess is that adults noticed the sparks given off by iron-rich rocks struck against quartz-rich ones in the course of stone took production, and made the intuitive connection there.
Mind you, though, this is all speculation.  There is not way to prove either of these scenarios right or wrong.
Sincerely,
John Shea

Dear Mario
You wrote for sources on primitive fire-starting.
One of the best books is
McPherson J, McPherson G. 1993. Primitive Wilderness Living and Survival Skills. Randolph, KS: Prairie Wolf Publications.
Though, to actually get a good idea of what is going on, it is better to get a videotape.  There are a bunch of these sold by the Society for Primitive Technology (www.primitive.org).  The videos by Jim Riggs and by the McPhersons are particularly good. I use them in classroom instruction -briefing before having students do this themselves.
Cheers,
John Shea