On Man's use of Fire, With Comments on Tool-Making and Hunting

The earliest hominids were probably pygmoid-size creatures (e.g., Australopithecus of Sterkfontein) living in warm temperate and subtropical environments. Extension of their range into cooler regions may have been accompanied by some increases in bulk (cf. Bergman’s rule), ¹ but, in any case the use of fire would have enormously helped survival beyond the winter frost line. The earliest known use of fire was during the time of the Second Glaciation (Mindel), a horizon not far removed from the time of the Australopithecus/Pithecanthropus displacement. The production of artificial environments, including the manifold uses of fire, may also have had some part in the neanderthalensis/sapiens displacement. This occurred at the peak of the Fourth (or Würm) Glaciation, which, although less extensive than the Third, was responsible for a higher percentage of the fauna’s becoming extinct, possibly on account of the great intensity of the cold.