Researchers May Have Discovered The First Matches Ever Used By Humans
Once thought ritualistic symbols are now viewed as practical tools
Fire is a pivotal tool for humanity. It’s critical for heat and light, enabling us to be more than just animals. Professor of Biological Anthropology Richard Wrangham notes fire from cooking allows us to soften food, which has incredible benefits.
- We get more nutrients from starches, and it makes things more digestible.
- This kills bacteria and some poisons.
- We’re able to ween our young earlier.
- It makes food easier to chew, which is more helpful than you can imagine.
Wrangham says, “If we chewed our food as much as the great apes do, we’d spend five or six hours a day just chewing.”
Fire also isn’t easy to generate. Today, lighters give us a flame with the flick of a switch or button. But it wasn’t always this way. British explorers learned this personally as they charted a sea route from the Atlantic to the Pacific around the tip of South America in 1829.
The Brit’s first encounter with the natives in the area involved a local tribe stealing their tinder box — a flint tool used to make fires.
The documentary Darwin’s Secret reveals a tribal people called the Yaghan lived in this area and kept fires lit at all times. The harsh conditions demanded it. In fact, so many fires were visible from the sea that the explorer Ferdinand Magellan originally called the area Tiera del Fuego (land of fire).
Fire was equally important for our ancient ancestors and we’re beginning to learn how much. A research team studying Neolithic sites in Israel claims cylindrical clay and stone pieces found throughout the region are likely the world’s first matches.
But they’re nothing like the striking tools we picture today.
Drill Bits Used For Creating Fire
“Our interpretation is based on the known cultural and technological evidence for advanced pyrotechnology in Neolithic times. The various characteristics of the clay cylindrical objects…can all be explained by a single function. We propose that these items are the earliest recorded matches — drill bits serving as a component of an advanced composite drill mechanism to produce fire.”
— Goren-Inbar N, Freikman M, Garfinkel Y, Goring-Morris NA, Grosman L (2012) The Earliest Matches. PLoS ONE 7(8): e42213.
Archeologist Naama Goren-Inbar and a team of researchers explain it wasn’t unusual to find cylindrical items made of clay or stone in Neolithic sites around Israel. Some thought they were ritualistic items due to their phallic shape. Others referred to them as pestles for making powders.
But whatever their purpose, there were lots of them, ranging from eight to nine thousand years old. Goren-Inbar says about a hundred were found between the Munhata and Sha‘ar HaGolan sites. Plus, other examples were found at earlier sites.
But something was odd about the cylinders. For ritualized pieces, they weren’t decorated, were well made, and very worn from usage. So, it appears they were used as tools. Goren-Inbar and her colleagues explain:
“The cylindrical objects are all made of high-quality, extremely fine-grained clay, with some grits less than 1 mm in size. The objects were fired at a relatively high temperature and their color varies between different shades of gray. In general, the cylinders differ greatly in both fabric and color from the pottery assemblage recovered at Sha‘ar HaGolan…”
While this still doesn’t eliminate their use as pestles for crushing things and making powder, other marks on the cylinders give another impression.
Rotational Tools To Create Friction
“Striations” appear on the conical ends of the tool, indicating friction, along with “dark coloration” because of heat. Many of them have breaks, too. The team believes these were caused by pressure applied to the clay cylinders. Finally, “thin grooves” going in a horizontal pattern can be found on the bodies of some of the tools.
Goren-Inbar and her associates believe the striations and grooves are indications the tools were used in a “high-speed rotation to create friction.” Moreover, the dark discoloration was due to the heat generated from this action.
All these characteristics point to tools being used as part of bow drills or pump drills for generating sparks for fire. The former applies pressure via a capstone to the top of the conical object while a cord and bow-shaped device spin it. The pump drill adds a flywheel to the process.
Both methods require a board underneath the spinning conical object, where friction occurs. Usually, cuts are made here to feed tinder. The team has what they believe are examples of these boards found at Neolithic sites with conical tools.
The researchers also point out examples of regular fire usage found in the region during pre-pottery ages in the Neolithic era (11,750 to 8,400 BC.) However, evidence of how they were lit is less visible. Drilling is also documented from (15,000 to 11,700 BC) on “basins, bowls, perforated rocks and slabs, jewelry, pendants, amulets, and bone tools.”
So, fire production and drilling techniques were known to people of this time. Furthermore, Goren-Inbar and her associates note arrowheads were found at these Neolithic sites, reminding the reader of a popular theory that the development of the bow and arrow led to bow drill techniques for fire creation.
There’s also one other bit of the mystery, which Murphy’s Law might explain.
Murphy’s Law And An Experience With A Bow Drill
The research team says that although early examples of fire use were found at the Neolithic sites, the techniques for its generation aren’t as visible. This is explained because wood tools were likely used. So, they faded away long ago.
It leads one to wonder: what’s the purpose of working so hard to create clay or stone fire-making tools? After all, wood is more effortless and gets the job done. This is true, but with a caveat, I learned personally.
About ten years ago, a former US Marine in our martial arts class taught a small survival course, which involved making fires. As fate has it, his prime method for generating the initial spark was a bow drill. He had us collect wood, set up the drill and fire board, then instructed our group of future pyromaniacs on how to spark a blaze.
Unfortunately, none of us could do it, even him. The reason? It happened to have rained the day before, and the waterlogged wood wouldn’t cooperate. It’s that adage of Murphy’s Law: whatever can go wrong will go wrong.
Now, this soggy wood only annoyed our fire-making class, but the results could be more dire for our Neolithic ancestors. No cooking fire, light, or heat may result in death. Having sparking tools made of clay was one less thing the elements could ruin. You’d need dry tinder.
If this technology worked, it wouldn’t be surprising that it spread all over. Hence, clay cylinders were everywhere. However, this is only speculation since there are no Neolithic eyewitnesses to prove or disprove the theory. But it does make logical sense.
- The clay cylinders have marks consistent with rotational force, including charring at the bottom of some.
- Items that look like fireboards were found at the same Neolithic sites.
- The use of fire and the ability to drill objects is present in this period.
With all this said, Goren-Inbar and her associates likely identified the world’s first “matches.” Well, at least until the next discovery is unearthed.
If you’d like to read more stories like these, please sign up for my mailing list. Wanna get in touch, check out my profile page.