The Use of Fire - Early Hominids

       Fire helped early humans to adapt to the rough living conditions they had been given in many ways.  They were able to keep the cold away, stay up after the sun went down, cook food, and they could ward off predators. 
       It was important to keep warm in ancient times, because early hominids had rather crude clothing that probably wasn't half as thick as the warm winter coats we own today.  During the harsh winter season, many ancient people probably died due to cold.  Winter might have killed off all the elderly, the sick, and the young - the next generation.  Without children, the tribe or clan wouldn't be able to survive, which would make that species of early human endangered or extinct.  Fire helped prevent that part of survival.
       It was important to ancient hominids to stay up after dark, because it gave them extra time to socialize.  Most of the daytime was probably focused on gathering food, making clothing, and constructing crude shelters.  They needed the sun to do that.  When fire came, people were able to stay up later, and although there might not have been enough light to work, it was adequate to see others' faces.  Having social time between family, friends, and clans helped develop early cultures.  People could talk about fears, challenges, hopes, dreams, tell stories, develop rules for the tribe, create a religion, and everything else that is vital to a healthy culture.
       Learning how to cook food was an important step in human history, because it was easy to digest, tasty, killed parasites, and eliminated most poisons/toxins from the food.  Back then, many people probably died of food poisoning, because they didn't have the technology to protect themselves against it.  When the food was cooked, it prevented poisons, toxins, and parasites from invading the body, so people were much healthier.  It probably saved a lot of lives too.
        Keeping predators away was also very important to ancient hominids.  Wild animals could attach the weak, young, and old, and the population of ancient humans was probably kept low by that.  If the predators attacked all the ancient human children, then the people would die out.  Fire might have saved whole tribes of ancient people.
       All in all, fire was a very important step in human evolution.  It showed that early hominids could observe natural phenomenon, try to understand it, and attempt to put it to good use.  It definitely helped keep many humans alive.  Without fire, we would still be cavemen.