Scientists have suggested that campfires may have played an important role in the emergence of human language, as they provided our ancestors with time to gather at night, exchange news, and tell stories.
Scientists believe that controlling fire not only transformed the lives of early humans by enabling cooking and the creation of more sophisticated tools, but also allowed them to stay awake for up to four extra hours after sunset. The hours spent around the fire became a rare opportunity for community members to connect without the distractions of pressing daily tasks.
According to Professor Catherine Hobaiter, a psychologist and neuroscientist at the University of St Andrews, storytelling sessions around the fire may have formed the beginning of a more complex and abstract pattern of communication.
This idea differs from traditional theories that assume language evolved gradually from the calls and gestures used by primates. Recent research indicates that chimpanzees, for example, can teach members of their group to make tools, coordinate foraging, and organize social relationships without a system resembling human language.
Hoppeter says this raises a fundamental question: if primates were able to meet their practical needs without language, what need drove humans to develop it?
Life around the fire may offer part of the answer. A study of Gou/Hwansi fishermen in South Africa showed that daytime conversations focused on practical matters, while the hours spent around the fire at night were mostly devoted to storytelling.
Scholars believe this shift may have been a pivotal point in the evolution of language. Gestures and simple forms of communication were sufficient for practical daytime needs, while nighttime gatherings allowed for discussions of events and experiences beyond the immediate moment.
The potential role of fire isn't limited to providing time for gatherings. The study suggests that its light may also help keep people awake without disrupting sleep to the same degree as blue light. Furthermore, the flickering flame stimulates activity in the brain's visual cortex, and gathering around a fire may lead to a kind of neural synchronization associated with empathy, social bonding, and improved cooperation.
Professor Nathaniel Domini, an anthropologist at Dartmouth College, says that these properties associated with firelight have not yet received enough research to understand their impact on human communication.
Scientists cannot know what the earliest stories told by human ancestors were about, but they believe that the hours ancient humans spent around fire may have provided the social and temporal environment that helped language evolve from a means of practical communication into a more complex system capable of conveying ideas and stories.
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