Fire
- Year(s) Officially Discovered: Over 1 Million Years Ago
- Discovery Put Into Action: Immediately
- Team/Person Behind The Discovery: Unknown Homo Erectus Species
“Fire” has been around for millions of years, but humans did not discover its use of it immediately. In fact, Homo Sapiens did not discover fire at all. It is said that we can date fire being used to cook food as far back as 1 million years ago, which means Homo Sapiens would not have been present at the time. Rather, we were the Homo Erectus species at the time. It was widespread in use 50 to 100,000 years ago for cooking food and staying warm, along with keeping predators away from us.
With the ability to control fire, we were able to grow and eventually combine small tribes into larger ones as time passed. This revolutionary change is likely what ultimately separated humans from the rest of the Hominina family. This is important to reference, as mankind would not be in the place we’re in today without the discovery and control of fire. It is not just one of the greatest discoveries ever… it is the officially greatest, full stop!