A New Theory Challenges Why Humans First Used Fire – And It Wasn’t for Cooking

A controversial new study is turning our understanding of human evolution on its head, suggesting that the earliest use of fire by our ancestors may not have been to cook food—but for a completely different reason.

For decades, scientists have believed that fire played a revolutionary role in human evolution. Mastering fire helped early humans cook, stay warm, and extend their activities into the night. It was seen as a turning point that shaped culture, technology, and even brain development.

But researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel are proposing a bold new theory: that our ancestors didn’t first use fire to cook, but rather to preserve food—specifically meat from large animals that was too valuable to waste.

Fire as a Tool for Preserving, Not Just Cooking

The long-standing “Cooking Hypothesis” argues that Homo erectus, an early human ancestor, used fire to cook food, making it easier to digest and fueling the brain’s growth. However, the new research points to a different early use of fire: smoking or drying meat to prevent it from spoiling.

Led by Dr. Miki Ben-Dor and Professor Ran Barkai, the Tel Aviv research team studied ancient archaeological sites dating back 1.8 million to 800,000 years. While these sites contained clear evidence of fire, there were no signs that meat had been roasted. What they did find, however, were large quantities of bones from massive animals like elephants, hippos, and rhinoceroses.

One adult elephant, for example, can provide millions of calories—enough to feed a group of early humans for an entire month. The challenge, then, was not just hunting such creatures, but how to preserve that much food in harsh environments where spoilage and scavengers posed constant threats.

The researchers suggest that early humans used fire to ward off wild animals and to smoke or dry the meat, greatly extending its shelf life. This practice would have been a critical survival strategy, especially in an era when securing a large meal wasn’t guaranteed.

Rethinking Prehistoric Survival Strategies

This theory reframes the role of fire in early human life—not as a culinary innovation, but as a vital tool for energy conservation and survival. According to the researchers, Homo erectus heavily relied on large-animal calories, and this dependence shaped their hunting strategies, mobility, and even how they used fire.

Using fire to preserve meat was likely a smart energy-saving tactic—essential in an unforgiving world where every calorie counted. Only later, after humans had mastered fire, did cooking become a common function.

In fact, evidence of roasted fish doesn’t appear at archaeological sites until around 800,000 years ago—much later than the earliest signs of fire use.

This groundbreaking theory opens up a new perspective: that early humans weren’t just learning to make food tastier—they were learning to survive more efficiently. And that strategic thinking, as much as anything else, may have laid the foundation for human civilization as we know it.

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Source: Vietnam Insider