Control of fire by early humans

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The control of fire by early humans was a critical technology enabling the evolution of humans. Fire provided a source of warmth and lighting, protection from predators (especially at night), a way to create more advanced hunting tools, and a method for cooking food. These advances allowed human geographic dispersal, cultural innovations, and changes to diet and behavior. Evidence for using fire versus fire-making follows different timelines, as the earliest human fires were probably embers from lightning-ignited wildfires, carried back to a cave. Claims for the earliest evidence of using fire by a member of Homo range from as far back as 2.0 million years ago. Evidence of human use of fire has been found 1.79 million years ago in Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa where charred bones deep in the cave beyond the reach of natural wildfires have been found. There is scholarly support for "microscopic traces of wood ash" as evidence for use of fire by Homo erectus beginning ~1 million years ago...

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