On Mon, 3 Dec 2001 10:18:03 -0500, Craig Smith <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Not until
>about 7000 BC did Neolithic man acquire reliable fire-making techniques, in
>the form either of drills, saws, and other friction-producing implements or
>of flint struck against pyrites.

Maybe even started.

From:
ralph m.rowlett
Department of Anthropology,University of Missouri,
Columbia,Mo.65211 ,U.S.A.21 v 99

"Stone artifacts are found in and around the &#64257;replaces
at Koobi Fora FxJj 20 East.While most are basaltic,Isaac
and Harris (1997 :163 –64 )emphasize that an unusual
number of them are made of chert,a prime material for
striking sparks to start &#64257;res.Blackened and reddened
cherts seem to have been heat-altered. ...

These researches make it clear that H.erectus/ergaster
at Koobi Fora not only controlled &#64257;res but probably could
create them and had food closely associated with the
&#64257;replaces.They clearly had the technological capability
of cooking tubers and other foodstuffs.The question is
whether they did so."


>Even then it was more convenient to keep a
>fire alive permanently than to reignite it.

Yes, even "frozen fritz",
though equipped with a fire making set in his belt,
carried a birch bark bag with glueing coal with him.
3000 m above the sea.

Amadeus