Early humans had been using fire for thousands of years, but it was the Cro-Magnons named after the cave in southern France in which their bones were founds – who discovered that if certain stone, iron pyrites, is stuck with a flint it gives off a spark hot enough to ignite tinder. So a quicker, surer way of starting a fire than striking two sticks together was at hand.
The hearth was a focus of family life, both in summer – when many people live in tents of wood and hide – and in winter, when they sheltered in cave. As well as providing heating and light, the hearth was used for cooking pot, and fire was used to ward off hungry predators which might attack the community. Gathering fuel for the fire and building up a good stock for the winter were essential chores. In most places this meant collecting wood, but on the plains of Eastern Europe and Russian, where trees were scarce, bone were used d instead. Bones do not burn easily, so shallow channel were due to draw more air into the bottom of earth.
Food History
