Cro-Magnon Man Invented First Indoor Lighting – An Unusual But Effective Oil Lamp

Conny Waters - AncientPages.com - We all get nervous and restless during a power outage. Being left without electricity and proper light makes us feel helpless. Now, this may surprise some, but Cro-Magnon man didn't enjoy sitting in the darkness either. So, he decided to do something about it and invented the first indoor lighting. His invention had, of course, nothing to do with electricity because he did not know such sophisticated technology.

Yet, about 40,000 years ago, he was clever enough to realize that a fibrous wick fed by animal fat kept burning. He experimented and came up with what can be described as the first oil lamp.

Cro-Magnon man was using light when creating wall paintings. Credit: Public Domain

He created a triangular stone lamp with the wick lying in a saucer-like depression that also held the rank-smelling animal fat. It may sound like a very primitive device, but it provided Cro-Magnon man with light, and his invention served people for millennia.

Later in history, more advanced civilizations invented more advanced oil lamps. Ancient Egyptians needed light in their temples and homes. They solved it using sculpted earthenware, often decorated; the wick was made from papyrus.

Ancient Greeks and Romans produced oil lamps of bronze with wicks of oakum or linen.

As mentioned earlier on Ancient Pages, "during the Middle Ages a number of ever-burning lamps were discovered in ancient tombs and temples. Based on ancient records we learn that these mysterious objects were found all over the world, in India, China, South America, North America, Egypt, Greece, Italy, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, and many other countries."

The ever-burning lamps were extraordinary because they could burn without fuel for hundreds and sometimes thousands of years.

Before the invention of candles and electricity, such oil lamps helped ancient people produce light continuously for a period of time and were considered essential household items.

Antique bronze oil lamp with the "Chi Rho," a Christian symbol (replica). Credit: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr

The point is that Cro-Magnon man, who many tend to regard as a primitive species, was much like us. Their name can be traced to the Cro-Magnon rock shelter in the famous Dordogne Valley of France, where their skeletons were discovered in 1868.

Like modern humans, the Cro-Magnon had a straight forehead, and his brain was slightly larger than the average human's today. So, naturally, they were much brighter than the Neanderthals.

Cro-Magnons were intelligent in many ways. They used tools and weapons, built huts, produced beautiful cave paintings, and even tried to keep track of time.

So, it really shouldn't be so startling to learn that the first form of inner lightning was invented by our long-lost relative Cro-Magnon man who lived on our planet at the end of the last Ice Age, about 40,000-10,000 years ago.

Updated on May 21, 2023

Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer

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