Playing with Fire

The invention of using fire in everyday life was a major innovation in Prehistoric times. Fire is one of the most important factors of modern day life and if we were still afraid of it or if we never adapted it into our everyday lives then modern life wouldn't be the same. When prehistoric people decided to use fire it changed the way they lived. It let them cook their food and eliminate any parasites or germs. It also created warmth for colder days and even might have encouraged prehistoric people to move from the warm plains of Africa to the cold of Europe. It also created light so they could stay up later and talk with their family and friends. It could have been the start of oral tradition and even religion. The use of fire demonstrated prehistoric peoples' ability to adapt. Fire is something that gave prehistoric people so much more opportunity to do things. Fire let them stay after dark and still have light. Fire was a good adaptation for when they left Africa and went to Europe which was much colder. Fire might have been the reason they went to Europe rather than staying in Africa. The first prehistoric people that experimented with fire move their species forward so much. Fire was something that they were scared of when they happened in the wild. When lightning struck trees they would pick up the parts of the tree that were struck by lightning, these sticks would almost be on fire but not yet. They would put these in a pile with other sticks and surround it by stones, this is called a hearth. Circles of stones were evidence that early people even used fire. Fire was an innovation but hearths were another innovation that made fires safer and probably not as many people were afraid.