That the discovery of fire, or, more precisely, the controlled use of fire was, of necessity, one of the earliest of human discoveries? Fire’s purposes are multiple, some of which are to add light and heat, to cook, to clear forests for planting, to heat-treat stone for making stone tools, to burn clay for ceramic objects. The controlled use of fire was an invention of the Early Stone Age (or Lower Paleolithic). The earliest evidence for controlled use of fire is at the Lower Paleolithic site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov in Israel, where charred wood and seeds were recovered from a site dated 790,000 years ago. From Archeology.com.
This is a modern fire, hopefully the last one I will light this winter. I thought the burning wood with the hole in it looked like a flaming lumpfish from hell.
E.J. Lefavour
www.khanstudiointernational.com
Good Morning Gloucester 
NPR Science Friday did a piece awhile back following the research of a Harvard prof who contends that the use of fire was a key element in our evolution. As much as 50% more protein is available from some cooked foods as opposed to the same food raw. See “Catching Fire: How Cooking Made us Human” by Richard Wrangham.
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from my insurance days: this is a friendly fire, contained within the firebox. if it escapes, it is hostile…hence the need for fire insurance.
the military has a different definition for friendly and hostile fire.
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