Random Twaddle: The Mystery of Fire – who in the hell discovered it?

This is an old blog post from a website of mine that I recently deleted. The original date of this post is sometime during the year 2011. All of the images below are my own. But anyway, let's get on with it...

Who in the hell, first discovered fire?

A campfire encountering a blaze of glory...

It is a simple question, in a way, but cloudy at the same time. It is not clear who, what or when fire was first discovered, but there are many estimated conjectures out there…

First of all, let's clear up one commonly misphrased question. A lot of people, and even many an article has been written with the terms or subject line: “who invented fire?” You can’t invent something that happens naturally. Anyway… It’s a debatable matter and somewhat of a mystery, but some of the earliest evidence of fire usage dates back 1.5 to 1.9 million years ago, thereabouts. Scientific data suggest that it was used in Africa by the early humans, ‘Homo erectus’ – the hominid before our beloved race of today’s raging, rifely rampant Homo sapiens with radical rhetoric. But was it controlled way back then (1.9 +/- million years ago) or was it maintained from natural causes?

With Homo erectus often getting credit for being the original fire starters, it brings many questions, like I mentioned above, as to whether they made fire or if they found it and/or discovered it and simply preserved it. By ‘finding’ it, I mean to find it in natural form…as fire cannot be invented since it can also occur naturally. And by ‘preserving’ it, I’m implying that they could have transported hot embers from place to place, to re-start new fires – hey, some hunter-gatherers in the past, did this.

But, as the old story goes, it was some caveman rubbing sticks together…maybe clashing stones or rocks, seen a spark and got the idea about the relations between friction & heat; who in the hell knows? The point is, nobody really has a definite answer when it comes to how this mystery of scorching bliss started or how it came into use for light, heat sources, and for cooking methods; it just happened, I suppose…

Like I’ve said in the past, maybe some aliens, from long ago, came down in a spaceship and displayed some pyrotechnics, then provided some know-how on how to start a fire – for these primitive beings. When it comes to aliens or an “outer entity” being the origin of this self-made version of a flaming heat source for Earth’s inhabitants, it can be proven about as much as any other fire-starting theory. Lightning could have simply struck a tree around these primates, or maybe the mythical god “Zeus” dropped down and got pissed off at what he seen, shot some bolts of fury and left. Hmm, that sounds familiar, ha-ha! You tell me…

For more humorous suggestions, incorrect info, and fantasy data, etc., go here: http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Fire [link is no longer active] But just remember, that last link was for entertainment purposes only, as they sure as hell aren’t correct…

Now, for the real reason and motive behind this post: Have you ever wanted to make a primitive ‘fire ring’ consisting of real riverbed rocks or creek rocks, placed in a circle? I don’t mean a modern fire pit with bricks & mortar, I mean one that even a caveman could have built, back in the day. I’ve done it and also have a couple pictures below to display. It is not that hard to do, albeit this does require a little effort. If you have the land space, simply clear out a circle, dig a small pit, add the rocks around it, and presto…let's make a fire.

I think most people enjoy the campfire scenes. But, after thinking about the history of it all, maybe we enjoy it in such a way that we don’t even consciously realize…sort of like we’re subconsciously getting back in touch with our primitive roots, perhaps? Either way, a toasty flame is always nice during the cold winter months. Some people like to roast food over it, but nearly all of us enjoy the view – as long as we are not inside or within the hellish inferno, LOL!

Caveman’s Fire Ring – Pre-ignition: