Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human: Difference between revisions

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Critics of the cooking hypothesis question whether archaeological evidence supports the view that cooking fires began long enough ago to confirm Wrangham's findings.<ref name="pmid10206901">{{cite journal|last=Pennisi |first=Elizabeth |author-link=Elizabeth Pennisi |date=March 26, 1999 |title=Human evolution: Did Cooked Tubers Spur the Evolution of Big Brains? |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=283 |issue=5410 |pages=2004–2005 |pmid=10206901 |doi=10.1126/science.283.5410.2004 |s2cid=39775701 |url=http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Abstracts/Pennisi_99.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110310164743/http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Abstracts/Pennisi_99.html |archivedate=2011-03-10 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The traditional explanation is that human ancestors scavenged carcasses for high-quality food that preceded the evolutionary shift to smaller guts and larger brains.<ref name="Pennisi 99%html">[http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Abstracts/Pennisi_99.html Pennisi: Did Cooked Tubers Spur the Evolution of Big Brains?] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110310164743/http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Abstracts/Pennisi_99.html |date=March 10, 2011 }}</ref>

Critics of the hypothesis argue that while a linear increase in brain volume of the genus ''Homo'' is seen over time, adding fire control and cooking does not add anything meaningful to the data. Species such as ''H.&nbsp;ergaster'' existed with large brain volumes during time periods with little to no evidence of fire for cooking. Little variation exists in the brain sizes of ''H.&nbsp;erectus'' dated from periods of weak and strong evidence for cooking.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gowlett|first=J. a. J.|date=5 June 2016|title=The discovery of fire by humans: a long and convoluted process|journal=Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B|language=en|volume=371|issue=1696|pages=20150164|doi=10.1098/rstb.2015.0164|issn=0962-8436|pmc=4874402|pmid=27216521}}</ref> An experiment involving mice fed raw versus cooked meat found that cooking meat did not increase the amount of calories taken up by mice, leading to the study's conclusion that the energetic gain is the same, if not greater, in raw meat diets than cooked meats.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Cornélio | first1 = Alianda | display-authors = etal | year = 2016 | title = Human Brain Expansion during Evolution Is Independent of Fire Control and Cooking | journal = Frontiers in Neuroscience | volume = 10 | page = 167 | doi = 10.3389/fnins.2016.00167 | pmid = 27199631 | pmc = 4842772 | doi-access = free }}</ref> Studies such as this and others have led to criticisms of the hypothesis that state that the increases in human brain-size occurred well before the advent of cooking due to a shift away from the consumption of nuts and berries to the consumption of meat.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/99legacy/6-14-1999a.html|title=Meat-eating was essential for human evolution, says UC Berkeley anthropologist specializing in diet|date=14 June 1999|access-date=6 December 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Mann|first=Neil|date=15 August 2007|title=Meat in the human diet: An anthropological perspective|journal=Nutrition & Dietetics|volume=64|issue=Supplement s4|pages=102–107|doi=10.1111/j.1747-0080.2007.00194.x|doi-access=free}}</ref> Other anthropologists argue that the evidence suggests that cooking fires began in earnest only 250,000&nbsp;BP, when ancient hearths, earth ovens, burned animal bones, and flint appear across Europe and the Middle East.<ref name="pmid10206901"/>