First Fire

[uniface]

Controlled by 300,000 BC

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/11 ... ce-012814/

The poor Darwinian Cave Man meme is really getting hammered of late

[Minimalist]

Um...

http://www.livescience.com/19425-earlie ... -fire.html

Ash and charred bone, the earliest known evidence of controlled use of fire, reveal that human ancestors may have used fire a million years ago, a discovery that researchers say will shed light on this major turning point in human evolution.

Scientists analyzed material from Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa, a massive cavern located near the edge of the Kalahari Desert. Previous excavations there had uncovered an extensive record of human occupation.

This was reported nearly 2 years ago.

[uniface]

You didn't READ it.

earliest evidence of unequivocal, repeated fire-building over a continuous period

Not just the oldest charcoal in a cave.

To the extent that there's a meaningful difference . . .

[Minimalist]

Semantics.

Previous excavations there had uncovered an extensive record of human occupation.

I suppose they might have lived there forever and only built a fire on the last day........


I wouldn't bet on it, though.

[circumspice]

Meme...

Word of the week?

[kbs2244]

“ evidence of unequivocal, repeated fire-building over a continuous period”
I don’t see anything supporting that statement.

Does “repeated” mean the fire was let to burn completely out and then re-started on cold ashes?
The begs the question of;

re-started how?

[uniface]

You wont get more out of anything that you put into it -- a lesson that 66 years have taught me, FWIW (if anything).

Repeated : Starting new fires. Here and there. Again and again, as wanted. As opposed to the unlikely but outside possibility of keeping a naturally started one going by feeding it for years. (The "They used fire, opportunistically, but couldn't make it" argument).