Knowing how to make and use fire was man’s first step on the road to civilization. We know that our cave-man ancestors who lived hundreds of thousands of years ago used fire, because we find charcoal and charred bits of bone in their caves. We even find stones still standing that were used as fireplaces.

How did men learn the trick of making a fire? The best we can do is guess. Primitive men probably knew how to use fire before they knew how to kindle it. Lightning may have struck a rotten tree and made it smolder. From this the cave man managed to start a fire, and then he kept it going, possibly for years.