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The researchers say that the kitchen was a commonplace among the

and probably originated at the beginning of his time or earlier

their first hot meal cooked over 1.9 million years, long before our ancestors left Africa to colonize the world, scientists say.

researchers from Harvard University dates back to the kitchen through the human family tree, after considering the size of the teeth and feeding behavior of monkeys, apes and modern humans.

They concluded that the kitchen was a commonplace among the Homo erectus our flat face, thick eyebrows ancestors, and probably originated in beginning of the reign of this kind, if not earlier, the most primitive humans. "This is part of an emerging body of science shows that cooking is important for our biology, that is, we are biologically adapted to cook food," said Chris Organ, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University

The advent of the kitchen was one of the most critical episodes of human history, allowing our ancestors to develop their diet and to extract more calories from food. Because the food is softened, but also ended the days of endless chewing. He was disagreement among experts on the subject. Some of the most convincing evidence for human use of fire is more recent, dating back 400,000 years, but there are several claims, including the remains of a campfire in Israel dates back to 790,000 years. The researchers began by creating a tree of the evolution of monkeys, apes and modern humans. Add to that the time devoted to food of several species. Compared with chimpanzees, our closest relatives, humans spend very little time to eat. Chimpanzees usually last more than a third of their daily food, while for humans was 5% of their waking hours.

scientists then add information about the size of the tooth in the family tree, and this time included details of extinction and man's ancestors closely related species. The study showed that the three species of human beings, Homo erectus

, Neanderthals (

Homo erectus

, which emerged in Africa about 1.9 million years, from 6.1% of their time eating. Neanderthals, the authors state, increased by 7% of their time feeding. "We believe
Homo erectus Neandertals