How Did Aboriginals Make Fire?
Aboriginal people, or the first humans, made fires using the friction method, which consisted of rubbing dry sticks together to create a spark or ember. The spark was used to ignite other materials such as dry leaves or grass. Does this Spark an idea?
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History
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Early humans needed fire to keep themselves warm and to cook with. In time, they learned to carry fire with them, but when they had to start a new fire, they found a dry stick and flat piece of wood to use as a drill and hearth.
Considerations
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First, someone dug a small hole into the hearth and placed one end of the stick, or drill, in it. The person starting the fire twirled the stick in the hole until it produced a spark, then moved the tiny flame to dry tinder.
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Considerations
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Another method aboriginals used was the fire saw. This involved running a hardwood stick across a notched softwood stick. The friction caused by rubbing the two pieces of wood together created heat which ignited the sawdust.
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References
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