What insights have you gained from your reading of the prehistoric human use of fire, the invention of the wheel and the history of writing?

From reading The Use of Fire I have gained a very unique insight on one of the many possibilities of human evolution. It is obvious that at some point we as a race found a way to nurture and control the use of fire. Prehistoric humans used fire much like we use it today, to cook, to see, and at times to defend ourselves. Most of us can agree on that, but can we agree on when it stopped being a natural phenomenon and became a household tool? Well, that’s a little more complicated. However, an interesting theory arose. Homo erectus is the species closely related to humans so much that if one were walking around in modern times (not to mention fully clothed) not many would be able to tell the difference between Homo sapiens and Homo erectus. Now, in this theory the emergence of Homo erectus is one attributed to the cooking hypothesis. It is believed that cooking prehistoric food brought about monumental changes in the human evolution. Cooking the food made it easier to chew and digest. Changing the way the Australopithecine ate had a domino effect and in turn changed the way they looked. The gut became smaller since the food was now much easier to digest, and the teeth became smaller as large teeth were no longer needed to pulverize prehistoric meals. The insights I gained from The Invention of the Wheel are few and simple. Although the wheel is probably one of the most important inventions of the human race, I wasn’t too enthralled by the article. The history of the development of the wheel, although somewhat informative, wasn’t really based on artifacts or images left behind by prehistoric humans. It was very speculative. I understand when dealing with the past sometimes your imagination is all you have to go off of, but the birth of the wheel (and possibly the cart) was told in a somewhat dry manner. Maybe I’m just not into cars, even the prehistoric types. And finally, in The History of Writing I was able to refresh the insights I had all but forgotten. The written language is an amazing thing. Born out of necessity, taught to the fortunate, and spread to the world, the birth of true communication can be seen through the written language. Writing was created to be able to keep track of one’s own property, and then it was used to keep track of history, and now its use has endless possibilities. Through writing we share anecdotes, information, announcements, etc. To think, it all started with small tokens. As a pre-teaching intern, I am asked to read this kind of material because it is important to have a solid base of knowledge. To educate others we must know and understand the origins of education itself. The only reason we have reached these heights as a civilization is because of the pioneers before us. Coming into our own, we learned cooked meat is better for us than raw meat, transportation is crucial, and keeping a written record of all things is one way to stay organized.