British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Social Brain, Distributed Mind
Abstract
Firing up the Imagination
J.A.J. Gowlett (Liverpool)
Fire is often seen as a technological 'add-on' in the course of human evolution, of about the same importance as (say) shaped bone tools, and somewhat similarly difficult to pin down in a poorly-sampled record. It is becoming apparent however that fire has a far greater importance, as one of the motors of human evolution, helping to drive change and the emergence of the social brain. Fire has at least five major aspects: (1) It fuelled the social brain, almost literally, allowing the higher quality diets that supported the growth of larger and more expensive brains. (2) Its use demanded a new structuring and management of daily life, emphasising shared intentions, co-operation and division of labour. (3) It extended the day, reshaping the human use of time, drawing human peak attentiveness into the evening, and perhaps correlating with the use of language. (4) It became a focal point at which operational chains of activity intersect, facilitating development of new technologies and their interactions with one another and with social life. (5) It necessitated the development of many new concepts, which acted as a stimulus to a new cognitive integration of different facets of life - social, technical and ideological/philosophical - aligning itself with abstract qualities of imagination, and becoming finally a major vehicle of ritual life. The paper explores these aspects in relation to the developing archaeological record.