Fire and Water : Technologies Extending Nature

Abstract

This chapter is about how our ancestors came down from the trees, learned to walk (and run) on two limbs, leaving the other two free for grasping tools and (later) for actions requiring dexterity. Living in groups, on the ground, created a need for verbal communication, which required more brainpower and bigger brains. The preservation of fire from natural sources led to a technology for the making of fire and then to more uses of fire, not only for warmth in winter, but also to make pottery and, with that, cook foods that were otherwise inedible. The use of seeds for food was the key to agriculture and (later) animal husbandry and thence to water management and irrigation. The need for mobility led to the wheel and the ship.