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Richard Wrangham

Richard Wrangham

Biological Anthropologist, Harvard University

Appears in 1 story

Notable Quotes

Our hominid ancestors could never have eaten enough raw food to support our large, calorie-hungry brains. Cooking wrings more caloric benefit from food and is vitally important to supporting the outsize human brain, which consumes a quarter of the body's energy.

Stories

Ancient humans made fire on demand 400,000 years ago

New Capabilities

Proponent of cooking hypothesis for human evolution

Early humans struck pyrite against flint to spark fires in a Suffolk field 400,000 years ago—350,000 years before anyone thought possible. British Museum archaeologists found two pyrite fragments near a hearth littered with fire-cracked hand axes and sediment burned to 700°C, evidence that early Neanderthals weren't just using fire—they were making it.

Updated Jan 7