“We can now say with confidence that our human ancestors were making simple Oldowan stone tools inside the Wonderwerk Cave 1.8 million years ago,” says geologist Ron Shaar from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel.
“Wonderwerk is unique among ancient Oldowan sites, a tool-type first found 2.6 million years ago in East Africa, precisely because it is a cave and not an open-air occurrence.”
While ancient evidence of wildfires and human fires might get mixed up in open-air sites, that’s not the case in the Wonderwerk Cave. What’s more, other indicators of humans making fires were found: burnt bones and ash, for example, as well as the tools.
Almost any form of civilization disappears in a million years, especially when it’s ground over by a mile of ice.
… or incinerated from Global Warming … due to our sins against Gaia. Right?
The Green New Deal!.. This is where the greens and GlobalWarmers want us to live, and in those numbers..
That’s because EVERYTHING after this era is Cultural Appropriation!
However … without the campfires to cook *gasp* … meat.
So…stone tools 1.6M years ago. Many cataclysmic events since then. How often has Civilization risen and been wiped from the Earth? Our current society is comprised of effectively disposable materials. Our modern datacenters will eventually turn to dust. Perhaps we should be documenting our knowledge within/on stone (hard) megaliths–and also, perhaps there is more knowledge preserved within those available megaliths than our hubris allows us to see. Also, when the next glacial epoch arrives and sea levels drop 450 feet, what will we discover (presuming we are around to see it)? (Channeling my inner Graham Hancock here…)
Where can I find a 128 Gigabyte rock?
Things like spark plugs, ceramic electrical insulators, etc, could last for a million years, not to mention radioactive waste dumps. If there was anything like modern civilization on the Earth a million years ago, the signs would be easy to see.
“Perhaps we should be documenting our knowledge within/on stone (hard) megaliths”….
On the moon.
that is so 2001 a space odyssey . this is why the sentinel was there . “the sentinel” is the original story
It appears that Clarke also borrowed elements from his short story Encounter At Dawn.
Fire. Tools.
Yup, pretty smart.
Especially when you consider the percentage of modern humans in Western Society that couldn’t make a plug for their arse or start a fire with matches and paper.
Hell, they’re still camping in “caves” and making fire….in our local LRT shelter. “They Walk Upright Too”, my new book title. With pictures. Just as dirty and hairy as their ancestors. They do seem to have an immunity to Wuflu, though. Strange that.
Many years ago, I attended a dinner party. Most of the guests were yuppies, which became abundantly clear when the hostess wanted to start a fire in her fireplace.
Not surprisingly, she wanted to start it with crumpled newspaper, but I told her to wait a few minutes. I went to my car, brought back either the hatchet or knife (maybe both) I kept in it for roadside emergencies, and proceeded to make what’s sometimes called a fuzz stick:
https://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/survivalist/2013/02/fire-starting-tips-how-carve-fuzz-stick/
Once that was done, all I needed was a match or two and, within a few minutes, I had a fire going. No newspaper required.
The yuppies in attendance were amazed that such a thing was possible. All I did was recall stuff that I did while I was a Boy Scout and put it into practice. I’m sure Lord Baden-Powell would have been pleased.
Called feather stick now.
Caves and fire are racist…or will be very soon, just give it time.
I wish I was kidding, but leftists and BLM have said sillier things.