Researchers estimate that early humans began smoking meat to extend its shelf life as long as a million years ago.

Researchers estimate that early humans began smoking meat to extend its shelf life as long as a million years ago | EurekAlert!

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TL;DR: Tel Aviv University archaeologists Miki Ben-Dor and Ran Barkai argue that early humans (mostly Homo erectus) first harnessed fire not primarily for cooking but to guard huge kills (think elephants, hippos) from predators and to smoke-dry the meat, extending its edible shelf-life. By examining nine prehistoric sites (1.8–0.8 Mya) worldwide—each rich in big-game bones—and ethnographic parallels, they show that the enormous caloric payoff of preserved mega-meat justified the effort of collecting and tending fires.

Once fire was routinely available for preservation, roasting foods (evidenced by fish bones ~800 kya) would’ve been a no-brainer “bonus.” This fresh take, published in Frontiers in Nutrition, slots neatly into the duo’s broader theory that early humans’ behaviors largely revolved around hunting large animals and adapting as their sizes—and availability—waned.