Editing Paleolithic (section)

=== Fire use ===
[[File:Font-de-Gaume.jpg|thumb|[[Charles R. Knight]]'s 1920 reconstruction of Magdalenian painters at [[Font-de-Gaume]], France]]
Fire was used by the Lower Paleolithic hominins ''[[Homo erectus]]'' and ''[[Homo ergaster]]'' as early as 300,000 to 1.5&nbsp;million years ago and possibly even earlier by the early Lower Paleolithic (Oldowan) hominin ''[[Homo habilis]]'' or by robust ''[[Australopithecine]]s'' such as ''[[Paranthropus]]''.<ref name="McClellan"/> However, the use of fire only became common in the societies of the following [[Middle Stone Age]] and [[Middle Paleolithic]].<ref name="Thoth&Schick"/> Use of fire reduced mortality rates and provided protection against predators.<ref name=MarloweFW22>{{cite journal |last=Marlowe |first=F.W. |title=Hunter-gatherers and human evolution |journal=[[Evolutionary Anthropology (journal)|Evolutionary Anthropology]] |volume=14 |issue=2 |page=15294 |year=2005 |url=http://www.anthro.fsu.edu/people/faculty/marlowe_pubs/hunter-gatherers%20and%20human%20evolution.pdf |doi=10.1002/evan.20046 |s2cid=53489209 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527230019/http://www.anthro.fsu.edu/people/faculty/marlowe_pubs/hunter-gatherers%20and%20human%20evolution.pdf |archive-date=27 May 2008 |accessdate=11 April 2008 }}</ref> Early hominins may have begun to cook their food as early as the Lower Paleolithic ({{c.|1.9}}&nbsp;million years ago) or at the latest in the early Middle Paleolithic ({{c.|250,000}} years ago).<ref name=Wrangham>{{cite journal |vauthors=Wrangham R, Conklin-Brittain N |title=Cooking as a biological trait |journal=Comp Biochem Physiol A |volume=136 |issue=1 |pages=35–46 |date=September 2003 |pmid=14527628 |doi=10.1016/S1095-6433(03)00020-5 |url=http://anthropology.tamu.edu/faculty/alvard/anth630/reading/Week%208%20Diet%20tubers/Wrangham%20and%20Conklin-Brittain%202003.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050519215539/http://anthropology.tamu.edu/faculty/alvard/anth630/reading/Week%208%20Diet%20tubers/Wrangham%20and%20Conklin-Brittain%202003.pdf |archive-date=19 May 2005}}</ref> Some scientists have hypothesized that hominins began cooking food to defrost frozen meat, which would help ensure their survival in cold regions.<ref name=Wrangham/>
Archaeologists cite morphological shifts in cranial anatomy as evidence for emergence of cooking and [[food processing]] technologies. These morphological changes include decreases in [[molar (tooth)|molar]] and jaw size, thinner tooth [[Tooth enamel|enamel]], and decrease in gut volume.<ref>Wrangham, R.W. 2009. Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human. Basic Books, New York.</ref>
During much of the [[Pleistocene]] epoch, our ancestors relied on simple [[food processing]] techniques such as [[roasting]].<ref>Johns, T.A., Kubo, I. 1988. A survey of traditional methods employed for the detoxification of plant foods. Journal of Ethnobiology 8, 81–129.</ref>
The [[Upper Palaeolithic]] saw the emergence of boiling, an advance in [[food processing]] technology which rendered plant foods more digestible, decreased their toxicity, and maximised their nutritional value.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Speth | first=J.D. | year=2015 | title=When did humans learn to boil | journal=PaleoAnthropology | pages=54–67}}</ref> Thermally altered rock (heated stones) are easily identifiable in the archaeological record. Stone-boiling and pit-baking were common techniques which involved heating large pebbles then transferring the hot stones into a perishable container to heat the water.<ref>Mousterian Brace 1997: 545</ref> This technology is typified in the [[Middle Palaeolithic]] example of the [[Abri Pataud]] hearths.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Movius Jr | first=H.L. | year=1966 | title=The hearths of the Upper Perigordian and Aurignacian horizons at the Abri Pataud, Les Eyzies (Dordogne), and their possible significance | journal=American Anthropologist | pages=296–325}}</ref>