Replies

There are to this day surgical tools for extremely delicate work that use obsidian blades because at the microscopic level, sharpened steel has a jagged, saw-toothed (albeit very fine) edge. Obsidian can be knapped to an edge that is both razor-sharp and smoother than a gravy sandwich, which minimizes the tearing that always accompanies a steel blade. Talk about being ahead of your time!

There's also evidence from the Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa dated to slightly earlier than this story (1MYA) showing that Homo erectus might already have learned to control fire. The previous landmark was in the Qesem Cave in Israel, and that was a good 600K years earlier.