Cooking and human evolution

Maria P. Chirinos

pp. 147-161

in: Marta Bertolaso, Nicola Di Stefano (eds), The hand, Berlin, Springer, 2017

Abstract

According to anthropology and paleontology, the first division of work was between man-the-hunter and woman-the-gatherer. Both activities are cultural human features (process of humanization) that started after the morphology of human body came to an end (process of hominization). At the same time, the study of human evolution has focused mainly on paleontological theses and has explained the different stages based on evidence such as fossils, tools, and meat diet. Recent studies raise doubts about these hypotheses and propose a new assessment: prior to hunting and gathering, cooking could have been the key activity that made our digestive system so different from other primates and also explains our social behavior better. This implies that the control of fire could have taken place earlier than posited by archeology. In addition to this statement, which is supported by biological evidence, other theses enable us to chart anew the way cooking influenced the ordinary lives of our ancestors and the way human beings cared for one another.