FIRE

According to the Greek myth, the gift of fire was brought to us by Prometheus from heaven millions of years ago. Prometheus stole fire from heaven and gave it to man. The fire made man to dominate the rest of the world.
According to the evolution theory, the first creature to use the fire was Homo erectus and he lived in Asia, Africa and Europe. His skull was half way between the shape of an ape and our own. His brain two third of our own, he walked erect and had human grasping hands.
Then the ice age came and Homo erectus was dying. It was a gift from heaven, which saved him. It was not a visitor or an extraterritorial being who brought fire to the homo erectus but a blast of lightening that set a bush on fire. A member of the Homo erectus overcome his fear and went for the fire.
At first, the fire burnt their fingers but they learnt to handle it with time. With fire technology was born. It frightened beasts at night and kept them warm.
It is believed that the fire not only helped to frighten beasts at night but also helped to change the shape of Homo erectus faces and society. How? Homo erectus cooked food that was previously eaten raw. The cooked food is softer than raw food. This cuts down the chewing that must be done. So nature reduced the apelike muzzle and its powerful jaw that was no longer needed. The brain case grew as the jaw shortened and the face become more human.
Also the found much more time to go and hunt and build that time society and this time could have been using while eating.
From the time, the fire was discovered it has helped us become masters of the world. It is the basis of modern day technology. Without fire, there would be no metals, no electricity, no books, and no cities in short no civilization.
The Greek myth further indicates that Prometheus was chained eternally on a rock and tortured forever for stealing fire and giving it to us. The myth is true than it sounds. Our technology is gutting the earth. Forests have been stripped away, air and water pollution from industries.
The fire has helped us greatly but we must not use it to destroy the earth that we must protect.

©Mungai Mwangi 2015