There is literally zero light inside caves.
You cannot - literally - see your hand in front of your face.
How did pre-historic humans see inside caves? Why would they leave artifacts where no one else would ever see them?
Fire is out of the question.
Either the fire burns up all your oxygen, or it chokes you to death with smoke.
I have never seen this issue addressed before in the scientific literature.
Any explanation would be pure speculation.
Or a troop of monkeys seeking shelter in a cave from a storm use up the available air and succumb to carbon monoxide poisoning
Depending on depth of the cave, light from the opening can carry far inside the cave.
False assumption.
Most cave explorers and miners used candles (a very small fire) for thousands of years. Before that, torches were used.
Small fires of particular materials produce very little smoke and use very little oxygen. The article explains they found evidence of fires in the areas they were searching.
All due respect, but you know not what you’re espousing.
Watch this https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/unknown-cave-of-bones-trailer
and read the following
https://www.science.org/content/article/israeli-cave-offers-clues-about-when-humans-mastered-fire
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ashes-oldest-controlled-fire
https://www.archaeology.org.za/news/2012/April/earliest-evidence-fire-use
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8143000/
and finally:
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0250497
and get back to those of us who understand the concept of ‘science’, because the evidence of repetitive activity in caves at innumerous sites around the globe demonstrates the folly of your statements.
That stated, I cannot deny the possibility - frankly, the PROBABILITY - that some early hominids might have feared, respected or otherwise deified caves in some reverence for those who died mysterious deaths due to CO poisoning (obviously unknown until 1716). Still, our ancestors persisted and stayed active at nearly all caves around the world throughout history.
They did use fire, because they didn’t have time travel to come up and ask your opinion.
“There is literally zero light inside caves.”
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except that given off by bio-luminescent organisms
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“Fire is out of the question. Either the fire burns up all your oxygen, or it chokes you to death with smoke.”
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If the air is stagnant - not moving - then fire would burn it all up. However, if the air is stagnant, then people in the cave risk death where pockets of air have been used up by the surrounding rock over time. Which is why smart cavers carry oxygen meters - to avoid what amounts to instant death - air here, then one step more, no air.
So obviously, this cave system has moving air. Else everyone on the expedition would be dead and we would not be reading this report.
Since that is the case, there is no problem burning torches.
Its not a zero sum game; its not addressed in “scientific literature” because it is common sense.