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How Fire Changed Human Evolution
Fire made humans an unstoppable force
Human beings are at the top of the food chain. We dominate the animal kingdom and exploit the environment in a way no other species is capable of doing. What’s more, there’s a key difference between us and other key predators. Lions and sharks, for instance, moved to the top of the pyramid much more gradually — this meant their habitat evolved with them.
Human beings, on the other hand, skipped to the top so fast the rest of the world couldn’t keep up. But how did we short-circuit the system? How did we transcend the standard rules of evolution?
Cooking our way to the top
Roughly 300,000 years ago, humans used fire every day. It provided light, warmth, and it was also a weapon against major predators.
Humans would even use fire to burn the environment on a larger scale. A controlled blaze in certain areas (such as grasslands) could help us acquire game and nuts more easily.
Most importantly of all, however, fire enabled us to cook. There are so many staple foods we cannot digest naturally — potatoes, rice, wheat, and meat from certain animals.
