The Evolution of Cooking: A Defining Moment in Human History

Anthropology.net

Cooking is often viewed as a significant turning point in human evolution. It not only provided the extra calories needed to support larger brains1 but also transformed the way early humans interacted with their environment. When exactly did our ancestors begin to control fire and cook food? While the answer remains elusive, a combination of archaeological and biological evidence provides clues, suggesting cooking may have begun as early as 2 million years ago.

Archaeological Evidence: Fire Control and Cooking Sites

The archaeological search for the origins of cooking hinges on evidence of fire control. However, distinguishing between fire used for cooking and fire used for other purposes, such as tool-making or warmth, is challenging. Despite these difficulties, researchers have identified several ancient sites that suggest early hominins were utilizing fire well before the appearance of modern Homo sapiens.

Cooked starch grains found in the hardened dental plaque, or dental calculus, of ancient humans offer one of the more direct lines of evidence for early cooking. Richard Wrangham, a retired professor of biological anthropology at Harvard University, noted2 that starch grains can be detected in teeth dating back at least 50,000 years. Yet, evidence of cooking before this time remains more ambiguous.

"There's evidence of fire all the way through the archaeological record,"

…explained Bethan Linscott, an archaeological geochemist at the University of Oxford. The challenge lies in determining whether early hominins were controlling fire or simply exploiting natural wildfires.

One of the key indicators of fire control in archaeological sites is the presence of combustion structures, such as hearths. These hearths typically consist of circular arrangements of stones surrounding ash deposits, often accompanied by burned artifacts or plant remains. Such findings have been documented at several ancient sites, pointing to controlled fire use among early hominins.

A notable discovery comes from Qesem Cave3 in Israel, where a hearth dating back 300,000 years was found alongside butchered animal remains. This evidence suggests that fire was being used for cooking meat. In England's Suffolk region, another hearth4 dating back 400,000 years was uncovered, containing both burned bones and flint used for toolmaking.

Even more ancient evidence5 of controlled fire use was found in Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa. Here, scientists unearthed ash deposits buried deep within the cave, leading them to propose that early hominins were using fire as early as 1 million years ago. Wrangham stated,

"The cave is so deep, about 30 meters [100 feet], that it couldn't possibly have been a natural process producing this ash a million years ago."

In Kenya, controlled fire dating back6 1.6 million years ago offers even earlier potential evidence of cooking. Meanwhile, at the site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov in Israel, researchers discovered7 stone circles suggesting hearths, alongside fish bones that showed signs of being heated around 780,000 years ago. This site provides one of the most compelling indications of early cooking activities.

Biological Evidence: The Human Body's Adaptation to Cooking

Biological evidence also sheds light on when cooking might have begun. Unlike other species, humans are biologically adapted to consume cooked food. For example, studies8 of individuals following raw-food diets have shown that many experience significant weight loss, and about one-third of women stop menstruating altogether, indicating that raw food alone is insufficient to sustain a healthy human body. This biological necessity for cooked food suggests that our ancestors began cooking long before modern humans appeared.

One of the most significant evolutionary changes associated with cooking is the reduction in gut size9 among humans. Compared to other primates, human guts are notably smaller, especially the large intestine. This difference can be attributed to the fact that cooked food requires less digestion than raw food. Wrangham explains,

"Our large intestine, our colon, the last bit of the gut, is about two-thirds of the size that it would be if we were a chimpanzee, a bonobo, or a gorilla."

This reduction in gut size allowed for the development of smaller, flatter stomachs, unlike the bulging stomachs observed in non-human primates.

Accommodating larger guts requires a wide pelvis and flared ribs—features that early human ancestors, such as Homo erectus, began to lose around 2 million years ago10. At the same time, Homo erectus experienced a significant reduction in the size of their chewing teeth, another evolutionary marker indicating a dietary shift towards softer, cooked foods.

"The largest drop in the size of the chewing teeth in the history of human evolution occurred around 1.8 million years ago,"

…Wrangham said, highlighting the potential connection between cooking and this anatomical change.

Homo erectus: The First Cook?

Based on both archaeological and biological evidence, many researchers propose that Homo erectus may have been the first hominin to master the art of cooking. Wrangham argues that the emergence of Homo erectus around 1.9 million years ago coincides with the control of fire and the development of cooking, which he believes played a crucial role in shaping the species' evolution. Wrangham suggested,

"Cooking and control of fire were responsible for the evolution of Homo erectus."

However, this hypothesis remains contentious, as direct evidence of fire control from this time period is scarce. The lack of definitive archaeological evidence means that the idea of Homo erectus as the first cook continues to be debated among scholars. Linscott acknowledged the ongoing uncertainty, stating,

"There's a lot of people still working on it, and I imagine there will be for a long time, and I don't know if they'll ever be able to pinpoint exactly when."

Conclusion: The Ongoing Search for the Origins of Cooking

The origins of cooking remain one of the most intriguing questions in the study of human evolution. While evidence suggests that cooking may have begun as early as 1.9 million years ago with Homo erectus, the precise timeline is still uncertain. Archaeological discoveries of ancient hearths and biological adaptations in early humans both point to the significance of cooking in shaping our species' development.

Despite the challenges of interpreting ancient evidence, the study of early cooking practices continues to offer valuable insights into the ways in which our ancestors harnessed fire to transform their diets—and ultimately, their lives. As research progresses, new discoveries may finally reveal when cooking truly began, illuminating a critical chapter in the story of human evolution.

1

Fonseca-Azevedo, K., & Herculano-Houzel, S. (2012). Metabolic constraint imposes tradeoff between body size and number of brain neurons in human evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(45), 18571–18576. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1206390109

2

Wrangham, R. W. (2009). Catching Fire: How cooking made us human. Basic Books.

3

Shahack-Gross, R., Berna, F., Karkanas, P., Lemorini, C., Gopher, A., & Barkai, R. (2014). Evidence for the repeated use of a central hearth at Middle Pleistocene (300 ky ago) Qesem Cave, Israel. Journal of Archaeological Science, 44, 12–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2013.11.015

4

Preece, R. C., Gowlett, J. A. J., Parfitt, S. A., Bridgland, D. R., & Lewis, S. G. (2006). Humans in the Hoxnian: habitat, context and fire use at Beeches Pit, West Stow, Suffolk, UK. Journal of Quaternary Science, 21(5), 485–496. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.1043bib

5

Kaplan, M. (2012). Million-year-old ash hints at origins of cooking. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2012.10372

6

Hlubik, S. (2013). GIS spatial analysis of FxJj20 AB, Koobi Fora, Kenya, with implications on modern behavior and fire control. https://doi.org/10.7282/T39K4885

7

Zohar, I., Alperson-Afil, N., Goren-Inbar, N., Prévost, M., Tütken, T., Sisma-Ventura, G., Hershkovitz, I., & Najorka, J. (2022). Evidence for the cooking of fish 780,000 years ago at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, Israel. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 6(12), 2016–2028. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01910-z

8

Koebnick, C., Strassner, C., Hoffmann, I., & Leitzmann, C. (1999). Consequences of a long-term raw food diet on body weight and menstruation: Results of a questionnaire survey. Annals of Nutrition & Metabolism, 43(2), 69–79. https://doi.org/10.1159/000012770

9

Watkins, P. A., Moser, A. B., Toomer, C. B., Steinberg, S. J., Moser, H. W., Karaman, M. W., Ramaswamy, K., Siegmund, K. D., Lee, D. R., Ely, J. J., Ryder, O. A., & Hacia, J. G. (2010). Identification of differences in human and great ape phytanic acid metabolism that could influence gene expression profiles and physiological functions. BMC Physiology, 10(1), 19. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6793-10-19

10

Bastir, M., García-Martínez, D., Torres-Tamayo, N., Palancar, C. A., Beyer, B., Barash, A., Villa, C., Sanchis-Gimeno, J. A., Riesco-López, A., Nalla, S., Torres-Sánchez, I., García-Río, F., Been, E., Gómez-Olivencia, A., Haeusler, M., Williams, S. A., & Spoor, F. (2020). Rib cage anatomy in Homo erectus suggests a recent evolutionary origin of modern human body shape. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 4(9), 1178–1187. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1240-4