Fire was likely harnessed around one million years ago, our Homo erectus ancestors using crude stone tools, but not much more than that. The combination of tools and fire, though, allowed Homo erectus to adapt to environments beyond where they first appeared, hunting more effectively and processing foods by chopping and cooking, unlocking a great many other potential food species. This allowed their brains to get larger at the cost of less robust jaws. They expanded out of Africa, developing into more sophisticated species.


The major changes were:

Protection from Beasts. Animals avoid fire, and the presence of one provided a new level of safety to the early people during the dark nights.

Cooking: Cooking food releases nutrients in some foods, and makes others digestible at all.

Warmth: With fire people could live comfortably in colder climates than previously.

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