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.
So 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. Loring Brace. Another way that fire was used was in defence from the animals such as tigers or lions that could have preyed on humans for food. "They threw burning sticks, at animals to drive them away from people's shelters." (Walker 21) Just the fact that humans used fire in defence that resulted in the increase of the human population. Although only Stone Age humans used fire in defence it impacted the population growth by having more humans survive the food hunts. Fire also allowed the hominid Species Homo Erectus to populate other continents other than Africa. "Specimens have been found in Africa, Europe, China, Georgia, India, and Java"2 "The spear led to the modification of the body from the neck down. For the first time, the hunter did not literally have to come to grips with his prey and could impale it from a distance. The consequence was the relaxation of selective forces maintaining Middle Pleistocene levels of muscularity and robustness in the body below the neck. Reduction in po
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Approximate Word count = 782
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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