- 3 million years  - 10.000 years

Cast taken from the original
Arago XXI, Tautavel, France, dated approximately 400 000 years ago
Musée de Tautavel, Agropolis-Museum collections
© Agropolis-Museum

Archeological discovery found in a grotto of the French eastern-Pyrénées montain range, the man from Tautavel is characterized by a skull having similaritaries with the one of big apes (receding forehead, protruding arch of the eyebrows,...).

L'homo erectus (from 2 millions years up to 100 000 years BP) was the first man who domesticated and used fire : this was a major conquest with regard to human nutrition.