Use of Fire
Fire was very important to the Neandertals. They would make fire by rubbing to sticks or stones together violently which would create sparks. The fire that they made inabled them to cook their food rather than eating it raw, so they were healthier. Cooking their food also gave them ideas in how to preserve foods by cooking them so if they were hungry later they could eat. This preserving of the food showed the first of the execution of a plan: not only trapping or killing the animal and cooking it for better flavor, but saving it for when times might be needed even more. This showed that the Neandertals were not only using the wonderful tool of fire that had been given to them, but that their brains were expanding enough to think of the future.
Fire inabled them to work later into the night, doing art and making tools. It kept them warm in the nights. Other hominid species knew how to use fire but did not know how to make it. They would hope and sometimes get lucky if a lightning bolt hit a tree. Sometimes they would travel far to find fire. What a suprise to find out that they could make it themselves!
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