Tuesday, April 03, 2012 1:17:51 AM
Ancient hominins definitely used fire at least a million years ago
Image by Michael Chazan.
By Alasdair Wilkins
Apr 2, 2012 2:30 PM
Fire is one of the most important innovations in humanity's evolutionary history, but it's also one of the most mysterious. It leaves almost no trace in the archaeological record, and it's often impossible to determine when humans began controlling fire.
As such, the range of dates for when humans - or our evolutionary ancestors - first turned fire from a natural phenomenon to a tool is ridiculously large, spanning anywhere from 1.7 million years ago to as recently as 400,000. Both of these times long predate the emergence of Homo sapiens about 200,000 years ago, but they represent the extreme endpoints of the existence of Homo erectus, the hominin species that most likely was the first to wield the flame.
That's why a new discovery in South Africa's Wonderwerk Cave is so crucial. A massive cave on the edge of the Kalahari Desert, Wonderwerk was inhabited by hominins for hundreds of thousands of years. A newly excavated layer dating back about one million years ago reveals clear evidence of ashed plants and burned bones. These microscopic traces were found alongside those of stone tools, suggesting a link with the cave's hominin occupants.
What's more, the artifacts were found deep enough in the cave that the fire was almost certainly started intentionally, rather than carried into the cave by wind or water. The surrounding surfaces from that time period also showed signs of discoloration that are typical of frequent fires. All the evidence suggests the hominins that occupied this cave a million years ago used fire.
Whether they had actually mastered it is another question. The lead excavator, Michael Chazan of the University of Toronto, think it's more likely that the Homo erectus of Wonderwerk simply happened upon wildfires and carried them inside the cave, making opportunistic use of the fire rather than actively controlling it. Even so, Chazan speculates that these still essentially accidental fires could have had a major impact on the residents of Wonderwerk and hominins in similar circumstances elsewhere:
"The control of fire would have been a major turning point in human evolution. The impact of cooking food is well documented, but the impact of control over fire would have touched all elements of human society. Socializing around a camp fire might actually be an essential aspect of what makes us human."
The confirmed use of fire at least a million years ago is a big deal, but it's still a far cry from hypotheses that call for the use of fire as early as 1.9 million years ago. Favored by Harvard's Richard Wrangham, this idea holds that fire and cooking foods actually helped reshape our evolutionary path by freeing up energy that could be used to sustain bigger brains. While Wonderwerk pushes back the confirmed timeline, it doesn't exactly help the hypothesis, considering all the new evidence argues for opportunistic, occasional use of fire, not the sort of thing likely to jumpstart major physiological adaptations.
PNAS [ http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/03/27/1117620109.abstract ] via New Scientist [ http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21661-ash-traces-hint-at-cave-cuisine-1-million-years-ago.html ].
*
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*
Copyright 2012 io9
http://io9.com/5898481/ancient-hominins-definitely-used-fire-at-least-a-million-years-ago [with comments]
===
Hominin
Definition:
Over the last few years, the word "hominin" has crept into the public news stories about our human ancestors. This is not a misspelling for hominid; this reflects an evolutionary change in the understanding of what it means to be human.
Up until the 1980s, paleoanthropologists generally followed the taxonomic system followed by the 18th century scientist Carl Linnaeus, when they spoke of the various species of humans. The family of Hominoids included the subfamily of Hominids (humans and their ancestors) and Anthropoids (chimps, gorillas, and orangutans). The problem is, recent molecular studies show that humans, chimps and gorillas are closer to one another than orangutans. So, scientists split the Hominoids into two subfamilies: Ponginae (orangutans) and Homininae (humans and their ancestors, and chimps and gorillas). But, we still need a way to discuss humans and their ancestors as a separate group, so researchers have proposed a further breakdown of the Homininae subfamily, to include Hominini (humans and their ancestors), Panini (chimps), and Gorillini (gorillas).
So, roughly speaking, a Hominin is what we used to call a Hominid; a creature that paleoanthropologists have agreed is human or a human ancestor. These include all of the Homo species (Homo sapiens, H. ergaster, H. rudolfensis), all of the Australopithecines (Australopithicus africanus, A. boisei, etc.) and other ancient forms like Paranthropus and Ardipithecus.
http://archaeology.about.com/od/hterms/g/hominin.htm
Image by Michael Chazan.
By Alasdair Wilkins
Apr 2, 2012 2:30 PM
Fire is one of the most important innovations in humanity's evolutionary history, but it's also one of the most mysterious. It leaves almost no trace in the archaeological record, and it's often impossible to determine when humans began controlling fire.
As such, the range of dates for when humans - or our evolutionary ancestors - first turned fire from a natural phenomenon to a tool is ridiculously large, spanning anywhere from 1.7 million years ago to as recently as 400,000. Both of these times long predate the emergence of Homo sapiens about 200,000 years ago, but they represent the extreme endpoints of the existence of Homo erectus, the hominin species that most likely was the first to wield the flame.
That's why a new discovery in South Africa's Wonderwerk Cave is so crucial. A massive cave on the edge of the Kalahari Desert, Wonderwerk was inhabited by hominins for hundreds of thousands of years. A newly excavated layer dating back about one million years ago reveals clear evidence of ashed plants and burned bones. These microscopic traces were found alongside those of stone tools, suggesting a link with the cave's hominin occupants.
What's more, the artifacts were found deep enough in the cave that the fire was almost certainly started intentionally, rather than carried into the cave by wind or water. The surrounding surfaces from that time period also showed signs of discoloration that are typical of frequent fires. All the evidence suggests the hominins that occupied this cave a million years ago used fire.
Whether they had actually mastered it is another question. The lead excavator, Michael Chazan of the University of Toronto, think it's more likely that the Homo erectus of Wonderwerk simply happened upon wildfires and carried them inside the cave, making opportunistic use of the fire rather than actively controlling it. Even so, Chazan speculates that these still essentially accidental fires could have had a major impact on the residents of Wonderwerk and hominins in similar circumstances elsewhere:
"The control of fire would have been a major turning point in human evolution. The impact of cooking food is well documented, but the impact of control over fire would have touched all elements of human society. Socializing around a camp fire might actually be an essential aspect of what makes us human."
The confirmed use of fire at least a million years ago is a big deal, but it's still a far cry from hypotheses that call for the use of fire as early as 1.9 million years ago. Favored by Harvard's Richard Wrangham, this idea holds that fire and cooking foods actually helped reshape our evolutionary path by freeing up energy that could be used to sustain bigger brains. While Wonderwerk pushes back the confirmed timeline, it doesn't exactly help the hypothesis, considering all the new evidence argues for opportunistic, occasional use of fire, not the sort of thing likely to jumpstart major physiological adaptations.
PNAS [ http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/03/27/1117620109.abstract ] via New Scientist [ http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21661-ash-traces-hint-at-cave-cuisine-1-million-years-ago.html ].
*
Related Stories
Our ancestor Lucy shared her world with another, completely different humanoid species
http://io9.com/5897233/our-ancestor-lucy-shared-her-world-with-another-completely-different-humanoid-species
Researchers uncover 8,000 years of human history hidden in the Middle East
http://io9.com/5896491/researchers-uncover-8000-years-of-human-history-hidden-in-the-middle-east
Why did we evolve to experience "runner's high"?
http://io9.com/5895654/why-did-we-evolve-to-experience-runners-high
*
Copyright 2012 io9
http://io9.com/5898481/ancient-hominins-definitely-used-fire-at-least-a-million-years-ago [with comments]
===
Hominin
Definition:
Over the last few years, the word "hominin" has crept into the public news stories about our human ancestors. This is not a misspelling for hominid; this reflects an evolutionary change in the understanding of what it means to be human.
Up until the 1980s, paleoanthropologists generally followed the taxonomic system followed by the 18th century scientist Carl Linnaeus, when they spoke of the various species of humans. The family of Hominoids included the subfamily of Hominids (humans and their ancestors) and Anthropoids (chimps, gorillas, and orangutans). The problem is, recent molecular studies show that humans, chimps and gorillas are closer to one another than orangutans. So, scientists split the Hominoids into two subfamilies: Ponginae (orangutans) and Homininae (humans and their ancestors, and chimps and gorillas). But, we still need a way to discuss humans and their ancestors as a separate group, so researchers have proposed a further breakdown of the Homininae subfamily, to include Hominini (humans and their ancestors), Panini (chimps), and Gorillini (gorillas).
So, roughly speaking, a Hominin is what we used to call a Hominid; a creature that paleoanthropologists have agreed is human or a human ancestor. These include all of the Homo species (Homo sapiens, H. ergaster, H. rudolfensis), all of the Australopithecines (Australopithicus africanus, A. boisei, etc.) and other ancient forms like Paranthropus and Ardipithecus.
http://archaeology.about.com/od/hterms/g/hominin.htm
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