{"id":1388,"date":"2025-10-24T16:20:55","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T16:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/?page_id=1388"},"modified":"2026-05-29T07:45:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T07:45:51","slug":"on-line-exhibition-chapter-4","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/on-line-exhibition-chapter-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Eruption of Mount Rinjani 1994, Oliver Spalt, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Period covered : pre-1826<\/strong><\/p>\n

The history of the human race is intimately linked with fire, from the earliest human beings up to the present day.<\/p>\n

Early man (Homo Erectus) would have learned how to capture fire from the natural world, but it was the discovery of how to make<\/em> fire which was a turning point in human evolution. Charles Darwin<\/strong><\/a> regarded it as the greatest discovery made by humanity excepting only language.<\/p>\n

The fire that exists in the natural world, where volcanoes spew fire, lightning strikes cause fires, and high temperatures can cause wildfires, would have been terrifying to early man.<\/p>\n

But eventually the inquisitive early humans faced down this fear and started experimenting with fire, discovering many benefits :<\/p>\n