When considering the technologies that have most transformed humanity, the wheel, the steam engine, or, more recently, the microchip often arrive to mind. However, a far older and more fundamental “technology” exists that literally changed our anatomy: cooking. Understanding the origins of cooking provides insight into the evolution of human health and dietary habits.
The Evolutionary Leap. For decades, paleoanthropologists have debated the precise moment our ancestors transitioned from consuming raw foods to processing them with fire. Recent evidence not only revises our timeline but confirms that mastering cooking was a primary driver of human evolution.
Pinpointing the start of cooking is a complex undertaking, but until recently, conclusive evidence of sustained fire utilize for culinary purposes dated back around 600,000 years. A significant discovery published in the prestigious journal Nature in 2022, however, pushed this evolutionary clock further back.
The findings came from the Gesher Benot Ya’aqov site in Israel, where researchers unearthed remains of large carp teeth. Using advanced techniques like X-ray diffraction, they demonstrated that these remains had been exposed to controlled, relatively low temperatures – below 500°C.
This evidence strongly suggests the event wasn’t accidental, and indicated that cooking of these animals began approximately 780,000 years ago. This aligns with the fact that Acheulean hunter-gatherers already exploited aquatic habitats, selecting nutrient-rich fish and cooking them in what archaeologists refer to as “ghost hearths”—structured fire zones.
An Earlier Hypothesis. Even as direct evidence pointed to 780,000 years ago, biological clues suggest the culinary revolution may have begun much earlier. Primatologist Richard Wrangham in his book Catching Fire and subsequent studies published in Current Anthropology, proposed that systematic cooking emerged with Homo erectus around 1.9 million years ago.
The Reasoning. Wrangham’s argument centers on energy efficiency. He posits that cooking predigests food, breaking down fibers and starches, allowing for greater calorie extraction with minimal effort. Crucially, by easing digestion, Homo erectus no longer required a massive intestinal tract to process tough, raw vegetation.
This is significant because both intestinal and brain tissue are energetically expensive. By shrinking the gut, surplus energy could be redirected to the growth of a larger, more complex brain. This dietary shift similarly explains the reduction in molar size and less prominent jawlines observed in Homo erectus.
Beyond Nutrition. The advent of cooking offered benefits beyond anatomical changes. Studies suggest that for early hominids, cooking raw meat was crucial for killing bacteria within it.
controlling fire and processing food were key tools that facilitated human migration. Re-evaluations of classic sites, such as the Zhoukoudian caves in China, confirm that Homo erectus pekinensis used controlled fire to cook deer meat in specific layers, demonstrating its importance in adapting to colder climates outside of Africa.
Images | Michael Lock
