How Sponges Shaped Our Development

The human history is full of coincidences and fortunate events, which in the end have had the result of differentiating us from the rest of the species roaming the Earth with our ancestors some 4 million years ago, when a weird kind of primates descended from the trees and started behaving strange for that time. This new species learned a new and neat trick, and namely how to hit two stones in such a manner that they produced a spark. This spark would be trigger the development of the most advanced species that has ever lived on the Earth.

Because the mostly-primate beings that were new to vertical walking had mastered the art of setting wood on fire, they instantly and absolutely became the leaders of the ecosystem. Naturally, there were situations when a distracted hyena would forget this and consume a humanoid for lunch and dinner, but, for the most part of the time, our ancestors were in charge. The emergence of fire created the fundamental basis for social groups, as many of the same species came together around a heat source, which naturally led to them communicating in some manner – thus, language was formed.

And, at some point, one of our brightest ancestors had an enlightening idea, namely to place a piece of meat over the fire, to see what happened. After a few over-done steaks, they must have understood the fact that only a certain amount of time was right for the meat to be “cooked,” if it was to be eaten afterwards. Some anthropologists go as far as saying that this was about the time dogs came to like the new humans, and started hanging around them.

But where do sponges come in, you might ask. It's easy, the stones that were usually used to create sparks were iron pyrite and flint. The latter is made up almost entirely of metamorphic chalk and oceanic sponge skeletal material, the remains of long-gone organisms. This material, though it may seem archaic, was used until the 19th century, when a bright man had the idea of inventing matches.

So it stands to reason that the discovery of the amazing properties dissolved sponges had was the first major step in our culture becoming one that is even now technology-inclined. It would then also stand to reason that other civilizations, on some yet-to-be-found exoplanets, would require a similar invention in order to climb up the “social ladder” of the species, so to speak. Finding such formations on other planets could be the first sign that a civilization lived, or could live, in that place.