Expert: John Shea - 8/14/2005

Question
I've come across a website which states that, while there is very little reliable scientific info on this at the moment due to poor fossil  evidence, fire seems only to have been invented c.40,000-60,000 years ago. It also stated that initially fire was not used for cooking food at all, but for warning away predators and for keeping warm - this seems far more likely than other claims of 400,000- 1,000,000 for the discovery of how to make fire.
What is your take on this, out of interest?

Geoff

Answer
HI Geoff
The problem of when humans first developed the capacity to make fire vs. "capturing" natural fires is probably one we'll never be able to answer because the technology one needs to make fire by friction is all wood, perishable, and rarely preserved.
There are burnt bones dating to to 1.4 Million years ago at Swartkrans Cave Member 3 (South Africa) that most archaeologists consider probable evidence for human-controlled fire.  The evidence gets better after around 1 Million years or so, suggesting that humans had figured out how to make fire and how to transport it.  For a recent source of references, see  
Goren-Inbar, N., Alperson, N., Kislev, M. E., Simchoni, O., Melamed, Y., Ben-Nun, A. &  Werker, E. (2004). Evidence of Hominin Control of Fire at Gesher Benot Ya'acov, Israel. Science 304, 725-727.
The big change that occurs after 40,000-60,000 (though actually closer to 20,000-30,000 BP) is that we see more evidence for humans using fire as a technological instrument, -firing clay, heat-treating flint, "storing" heat in stones (possibly to roast or boil food).
I think that early humans used natural fires to cook food fairly early on, more than 1 million years ago.  They probably figured out ways to transport fire and to make it (probably by friction, -the most common method) not very long thereafter, say between 1.0-0.5 Million years ago.  Another reason for human use of fire may have been as an aid to woodworking.  Fire really speeds up progress in woodworking/carpentry.  Using fire to char-and-scrape wood can cut in half the time one needs to make a spear, a bowl, or a digging stick.
Whether cooking, warmth, carpentry, or antipredator defense were more important undoubtedly varied from time to time and depending on the context.
One thing is clear, though, and that is that big predators were still preying on humans long after humans had invented fire.  They still do so today (lions in Africa, tigers in Asia, grizzly bears in Alaska).

Cheers,
John Shea