The origin of cooking, a routine task today, might be the key to our evolution as a species. By enabling our ancestors to consume calories more efficiently, it may have contributed to the development of our brains. But when did this ritual truly begin? The answers, although hazy, lie at the intersection of archaeology and biology.
Archaeologists have discovered cooked starch grains in teeth that are 50,000 years old. This suggests that cooking was already an ancient practice at that time. However, for earlier periods, the evidence becomes uncertain. The earliest traces of controlled fires, which might have been used for cooking food, date back to about a million years ago. For instance, in Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa, the presence of ash buried so deeply suggests that the fire could not have been of natural origin.
Nevertheless, some sites show even more precise traces of cooking, such as at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov in Israel, where heated fish remains and stone circles suggest mastery of fire 780,000 years ago. These discoveries challenge the idea that cooking is a recent invention in our evolutionary history.
Biologically, the evolution of the human body also offers clues. Humans are biologically adapted to consuming cooked food, as evidenced by the reduced size of our digestive system compared to that of primates. This adaptation may have begun with
Homo erectus, around 1.9 million years ago, a period that coincides with a reduction in the size of jaws and teeth, suggesting food that was easier to chew.
However, without clear archaeological evidence of fire use by
Homo erectus, this theory remains debated. Researchers continue to explore this puzzle, and the mystery is likely to persist for a long time.