In this chapter
- Where Fire Actually Startsthe earliest secure evidence of fire, and why it says nothing about boiling
- What Boiling Bought, Once It Arrivedwhat heating in water did for safety, nutrition and extraction
- The Potthe oldest pottery and the earliest chemically confirmed fermented drink
- Try It: “Paleo Broth”an experiment with stone boiling that can be run beside a fire pit
Questions this chapter answers
- How old is the earliest secure evidence of fire, and who left it?
About a million years: burned plant remains and bone in Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa — the earliest secure evidence of fire inside an archaeological site, left by Homo erectus.
- How did people boil water before they had pots that could stand on a fire?
- What is the oldest chemically confirmed fermented drink, and what was it made from?
A mixed drink of rice, honey and fruit, from vessels at the Neolithic village of Jiahu dated to about 9,000–7,000 years ago.
- Why does making a herbal drink depend on hot water at all?
Short answers only. Chapter 3 gives the full account, with 3 footnotes to 3 sources.
Sources
3 footnotes to 3 sources. Full references are in the bibliography.
- Berna, Francesco, Paul Goldberg, Liora Kolska Horwitz et al. “Microstratigraphic Evidence of in situ Fire in the Acheulean Strata of Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape Province, South Africa.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109, no. 20 (2012): E1215–E1220. DOI 10.1073/pnas.1117620109.
- Wu, Xiaohong, Chi Zhang, Paul Goldberg et al. “Early Pottery at 20,000 Years Ago in Xianrendong Cave, China.” Science 336, no. 6089 (2012): 1696–1700. DOI 10.1126/science.1218643.
- McGovern, Patrick E., Juzhong Zhang, Jigen Tang et al. “Fermented Beverages of Pre- and Proto-Historic China.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101, no. 51 (2004): 17593–17598. DOI 10.1073/pnas.0407921102.