THE FIRST INVENTIONS OF MAN AND THEIR IMPORTANCE - HISTORY - 2024

Talking about the first inventions of man implies mentioning a series of tools and ideas that today are very basic and indispensable, because it is difficult to imagine what the life of man today would be like if there were no such inventions.

Perhaps they are not the most important discoveries, but rather those first expressions of intelligence materialized in objects and processes that meant a great novelty in the life of prehistoric man.

Oldest Evidence: Stone Tools

The need for survival, specifically with regard to how to get daily food, led primitive man to create objects that could help him with this task.

Hammers, axes and even species of sharp tools carved in stone, were the first ways devised to carry out the activity of hunting, the main source of food in prehistory, as well as to cut or condition the meat obtained from large animals.

Until a few years ago, the fossils found at that time in archaeological excavations indicated that the oldest stone tools corresponded to the Olduvayan Stage, whose name comes from the site where the Olduwai Gorge deposit (Tanzania) is located.

Dating back 2.6 million years, these artifacts were believed to be the earliest stone tools and were attributed to Australopithecus garhi.

Figure 1. Characteristic carving of the Olduvayense industry.

But in 2009, during excavations carried out in Dikika, Ethiopia, skeletal remains of animals dating from about 3.4 million years ago were found, which showed cut marks, which indicated that their predator had used some kind of sharp tool.

Later, in 2011 a group of researchers found a series of stone artifacts in Lake Turkana, Kenya at the site called Lomekwi, which dates back to about 3.3 million years.

These findings have greatly impacted theories about the evolution of man, since they imply the development of a human species prior to Australopithecus garhi. At the same time, it reveals new evidence regarding the changes in the human brain in history.

Fire, a mystery for archaeologists

Until this moment, it has not been possible to establish the exact moment in the history of the world in which man began to use fire under his control in order to take advantage of its action on food, as a source of heat and protection or its utility in tool making.

It has been impossible to define whether the archaeological data found at the research sites had natural or man-initiated origins, since there are many controversial inferences and opinions.

It has only been possible to establish a range within which it is probable that man has begun to control fire: at least 120,000 years ago but not beyond 700,000 years.

However, the impact of the discovery of fire in the history of man has been enormous. Primitive man's first contact with fire is presumed to have been caused by naturally caused fires, most likely by lightning strikes in wooded or bush-filled areas, events the consequences of which attracted attention for the benefits they derived from it.

From that moment he put his efforts into being able to create it, control it and take advantage of its benefits at will.

One of the great consequences of the use of fire in the early stages of human history was, in fact, evolution itself.

By changing from a diet based on raw foods to one in which food was subjected to the action of fire, it acquired a greater nutritional and caloric value, an effect directly related to the biological development of the first humans.

This is not to mention the immense technological and cultural advances that fire has brought to the history of mankind, being an important source of energy and a transforming element that allowed the development of areas such as biology, chemistry and metallurgy, among others.

The first pigments, signs of social evolution

In addition to being the basis of an industry of great importance today, the creation of colors from chemical substances has deeper implications, referring to the evolution of man as a social being.

The discovery of pigments and tools for their grinding in a Zambian cave, in the town of Twin Rivers, whose age ranges between 350,000 and 400,000 years, not only have a technological significance, but also suggest the use of some form of language and social behavior for the time.

Archaeologists maintain that these pigments were used for a kind of ritual in which the body was covered with them, as an expression of art. The fact that man was involved in this type of activity evidently suggests the existence of social groups in which it was necessary to communicate with each other in order to carry out the ritual or social event in question.

Hence the great importance attributed to the invention of pigments, being a key to research in matters as important as the evolution of language.

And it is that the use of signs and symbols used for this body art constitutes a new piece of information that can change the theories of researchers about the first uses of figures and representations as a form of communication.

Conclusions

Although they seem very basic today, all these inventions were the basis for many of the things that are part of modern life today, being the beginning of many important technological processes and / or tools.

Moreover, it is about inventions that changed the life of man when it comes to surviving or interacting with each other. Some achievements that have defined cultures, beliefs and behaviors over the years and that even in modern history continue to have an impact that transforms us every day.

References

1. Berezow, A. (2016). American Council on Science and Health: How And When Did Humans Discover Fire ?. Recovered from www.acsh.org.
2. Choi, C. (2015). Livescience: World's Oldest Stone Tools Predate Humans. Recovered from livescience.com.
3. Earliest evidence of art found (2000). Recovered from bbc.co.uk.
4. Gowlett, J. (2015). Royal Society Publishing: The discovery of fire by humans: a long and convoluted process. Recovered from royalsocietypublishing.org.
5. Himelfarb, E. (2000). Archeology Archive: Prehistoric Body Painting. Recovered from archeology.org.
6. Oldowan Tools from Lokalalei, Kenya. (2016). Retrieved from www.humanorigins.si.edu.
7. Seemaw, S. et al. (1997). Proquest: 2.5-Million-Year-Old Stone Tools From Gona, Ethiopia. Recovered from search.proquest.com.