Fire apes
From: Andrew Nowicki (andrew_at_nospam.com)
Date: 07/25/04
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Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 21:25:40 +0200
Here is a revised Fire Ape Theory:
Natural bush fires are common in periodically dry habitats.
From 3 million to 2.4 million years ago Africa was relatively
dry, but not as dry as it is today. South and east Africa and
Sahara were covered with savanna. The dry period coincides
perfectly with the existence of Australopithecus africanus.
This hominid lived in dry african woodlands surrounded by
grasslands. At present time July is the driest month on the
Mediterranean coast of Africa. 2000 kilometers south, in
southern parts of Mali, Niger, Chad, and Sudan, July is the
wettest month. South Africa has the same wet/dry weather
pattern: June is the wettest month in Kaapstad but it is the
driest month in Johannesburg. If the same weather pattern
existed in the past, Sahara and south Africa were ravaged by
natural bush fires. Large fires suppress rain, so they can
burn for a very long time. In some years favorable winds must
have spread bush fires in these zones for several weeks -- it
was only natural for the apiths to walk in front of the fire,
scavenging fried carcasses, and shoo the competing birds.
With a little artificial help the fires followed the dry
season and burned for thousands of years.
Australopithecus africanus fossils abound with carbon-13.
This means that either they ate large quantities of carbon-13
enriched foods such as grasses and sedges, or they ate animals
that ate these plants, or both. Grasses have large quantities
of silica crystals which scratch tooth enamel. Fossil teeth of
the Australopithecus africanus do not have scratches compatible
with eating grasses and they do not have sharp edges that can
cut raw meat. Australopithecus africanus could not eat sedges
because sedges grow in wet places only. This means that
Australopithecus africanus ate cooked meat, probably snakes
and lizards killed by wildfires.
Australopithecus afarensis was a bipedal hominid and immediate
ancestor of the Australopithecus africanus. It inhabited dry
bushland, riparian woodland, probably with seasonal floodplains,
and riverine forest habitats. Australopithecus afarensis could
not sleep on trees because its hands were too weak, and its feet
did not grasp well. It was vulnerable to predators at night
unless it slept inside a ground nest. Chimps make tree nests,
so the idea of more intelligent australopithecines making ground
nests is not far fetched. The ground nest was probably just a
pile of sticks having large cavity in its center. Some of the
nests may have been lost to natural bush fires. As the apiths
learned how to protect their nests from the wild fires, they
understood how fire works. Perhaps the firestick farming was
invented by a subspecies of Australopithecus afarensis which
evolved into the Australopithecus africanus. The migrating
Australopithecus africanus did not have time to make the ground
nests, so it had to sleep in the trees. This explains its
ape-like features: curved hand and foot bones, short legs,
divergent big toes, and upward oriented shoulder joints.
So far the Australopithecus africanus fossils were found only
in east and south Africa, but east Sahara was also good habitat
for the migrating fire apes. In Egypt the lowest level of Nile
is in April and May, while the highest level is in September
(Asuan) and October (Cairo). Low water level is attractive to
hunting hominids because it concentrates prey animals in a small
area and it dries up reeds and grasses. The fire apes migrated
north in the spring along the Nile River. They had to return to
south Sahara in the fall. Microwave images of Sahara taken by
satellites show dry, ancient bed of a river that flowed through
the center of Sahara in the south-west direction. The lowest
level of water in this river was in late summer or fall. This is
exactly what the fire apes needed to migrate to south Sahara in
the fall. The fire apes followed the dry season as they migrated
counterclockwise around the present day Chad.
What tools did the fire apes use? Their most difficult task was
spreading the fire. They were not smart enough to start a fire,
so they must have invented some ways of transporting it. A single
stick taken from the fire does not burn longer than a minute. A
bundle of parallel, long sticks or reeds (like fasces) burns much
longer. Hollow bones could also be used to transport fire.
There are biological arguments in favor of the fire ape theory:
- We cannot eat red meat unless it is cooked or ground.
- We have sweat glands. Sweat mixed with soot protected the
fire apes from the fires.
- The smell of fire is probably offensive to the sensitive
olfactory organs of the wild animals, but we tolerate it so
well that some people inhale smoke for fun.
- People, including hunters, have weak sense of smell.
- Cooked meat is devoid of parasites, so it is safe to eat.
- Playing with fire is dangerous -- this explains why we are
the only species having Homo level of intelligence.
- Humans have eyelashes, but they are not well adapted to
life in a desert, so their eyelashes have different purpose
than camel's eyelashes.
- Broad nasal aperture of Australopithecus africanus and
external nose of genus Homo may indicate environment polluted
with dust or smoke.
_________________________________________________________________
BIBLIOGRAPHY
M. Sponheimer and J. A. Lee-Thorp, "Isotopic evidence for
the diet of an early hominid, Australopithecus africanus,"
Science 283:368, 15 January 1999.
P. F. Puech, F. Cianfarani, and H. Albertini, "Dental microwear
features as an indicator for plant food in early hominids:
a preliminary study of enamel," Human Evolution 1, 507-515, 1986.
"Smoking Rain Clouds over the Amazon," M. O. Andreae, D. Rosenfeld,
P. Artaxo, A. A. Costa, G. P. Frank, K. M. Longo, and M. A. F.
Silva-Dias, Science: 1337-1342, February 27 2004.
"Measurement of the Effect of Amazon Smoke on Inhibition of Cloud
Formation," Ilan Koren, Yoram J. Kaufman, Lorraine A. Remer, and
Jose V. Martins, Science: 1342-1345, February 27 2004.
Radar rivers in the Eastern Sahara:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/mjff/rad_rivs.htm
The Sahara Paleodrainages:
http://southport.jpl.nasa.gov/reports/finrpt/McCauley/mccauley.htm
Time line of human evolution:
http://www.space.com/images/h_human_evolution_010424_02.gif
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