It is believed that the earliest humans first used fire for warmth, and later for cooking food, for shaping weapons and tools, for protection against wild animals, for changing clay into pottery, and for light.
These early people got their fire from brush fires ignited by lightning, from the fire of volcanoes, from the heat of the sun, or from the sparks sent off by one dead limb rubbing another in the wind or two rocks striking each other. These people had to carefully preserve their fires, for they did not yet have the skills necessary to kindle a flame themselves.
As they grew to realize the value of fire, these early people probably tried to produce it themselves, perhaps by imitating the rubbing action of the dead limbs or the striking of two rocks together.
No exact date can be determined for man’s first use of fire, but it is believed to have come early in the development of mankind.
Fire became so important in Ancient Greece, Persia, Egypt, and Rome that public fires were kept burning constantly in the center of towns and villages!
