Early Use of Fire as a Tool

Source: The illuminated manuscript, the Madrid Skylitzes, showing Greek fire | Wikimedia

Fire is probably the first product of nature that humans learned to control. Native Americans and early Europeans used fire to burn land for agricultural purposes, along with clearing land for hunting and to expose enemies. Native Americans and early Europeans burning land for agricultural purposes, along with clearing land for hunting and to expose enemies. Smoke signals were an early form of communication and fire was used as a weapon too. Fire is one of the oldest natural phenomenons and evidence of fires burning forests can be found in petrified wood and coal that dates back nearly 350 million years ago.