Apan som blev kock

Sammanfattning: How far back in time can we trace fire use in the human story? The archaeological data has demonstrated inconsistency when it comes to answering that question. Incontrovertible remains after hearths are scarce especially before 100,000 years BP. One of the reasons are that remains after temporary hearths doesn’t preserve well in the archaeological record in comparison with for example, stone tools. But there are archeological sites like the Swartkrans cave in South Africa that have burnt bones dating back to 1,5-1,0 million years BP. In Chesowanja, Kenya burnt clay dating back to 1,4 million years BP is associated with hominid activities and fire use. In Ethiopia the site at Gadeb has burned rocks associated with a hearth in layers dating back to 1,5-0,7 million years BP. The sites at Koobi Fora in Kenya has three locations with fire altered sediments dating back to 1,6-1,5 million years BP. But how sure are we that those traces are caused by hominids and not prehistoric wildfires? Those very early fire sites are only linked to Homo erectus that first appeared 1,9 million years BP. Fossils of the robust australopithecine are also recovered at several of these sites. According to Wrangham fire and cooked food was the leap that took us from our apelike ancestor, the australopithecine, to Homo erectus. This review has demonstrated a clear discrepancy between Wranghams chronology for early human fire use and the dates available from archaeological data indicative of early fire use. The results of this desktop study shows that cooking may have started 1,5 million years BP and not earlier. Wranghams thesis about how fire and cooked food changed Homo erectus anatomy more than 2 million years ago can therefor not be confirmed by the archaeology.