Posted on 10/28/2008 7:53:10 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Mon Oct 27, 9:34 AM ET -- Excavations at the Gesher Benot Ya'qov site. A new study shows that humans had the ability to make fire nearly 790,000 years ago, a skill that helped them migrate from Africa to Europe. (Prof. Naama Goren-Inbar/Hebrew University of Jerusalem/Handout/Reuters)
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Tou know, I can’t build a fire these days without doing the Tom Hanks Castaway thing every time.
Besides, if this happened today, we'd never be able to use it because of the liability issues involved.
And think of all the greenhouse gases prehistoric man created. Tsk, tsk. Shame on them.
And one day later they invented the first kegger
Here in Kaleeeeeeeeefornia one can get as much as a $1000 PER DAY fine for using your wood stove...
790,000 years ago? Now, that can’t *possibly* be right...
The pile of ash must be enormous by now.
It was actually believed to be earlier than that...Al Gore’s ancestor scolded at least every tribe within a 1 mile vicinity so they made fires when he wasn’t looking.
Good read. Thanks for your posts.
“While they did not find remnants of ancient matches or lighters”
LOL - oddly enough, the lighter was invented by a german alchemist just a couple of centuries ago.
I say odd, because it seemes so obvious - bolt an iron wheel and a piece of flint to an oil lamp.
But nobody did it until recently, and the guy who did, invented the thing because he kept blowing up his lab mucking with flint and steel after he turned on the gas.
“The first lighter, Döbereiner’s lamp, was invented by Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner in 1823. It stayed in production until 1880.”
interesting. of course, you may have just opened the door for 790K old “pull my finger” and “fart lighting” jokes...
You’re most welcome.
//But nobody did it until recently, and the guy who did, invented the thing because he kept blowing up his lab mucking with flint and steel after he turned on the gas.//
Uhm no, Caveman did same thing in huge cavern loaded with natural gas.
“The lighter is exhibited in the Deutsches Museum and in the old pharmacy in the Heidelberg Castle.”
My head is about to explode. I was in Heidelberg castle last year, wife and four kids in tow, and skipped the pharmacy tour.
ARRRRRRRGH!
This is interesting, because the Andaman Island Negritos, thought to be a relict population of the most primitive early line of out-of-Africa migrators, can’t make fire, but must carry it around as they move their camps.
Surely they didn’t make fire without a massive goobermint program, and perhaps an expensive “bailout” to boot?
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