FIRE AND BUILDING. USE OF NATURAL MATERIALS: THE TIMBER

As we know the fire is one of the four Nature’s elements, which, since its origins and its formidable discovery, has always been a tool which had at the same time aggregated humans and provided them fear.
A tree hit by a thunder or an incandescent lava running out from the volcano’s mouth: in this way maybe the man had discovered the fire.
On one hand it was used to protect humans, by furthering dangerous animals, by gathering them in the gay evenings, by providing cooked food and heat; on the other hand, a scent or a bad use of it could have fired the woods and then houses and then entire towns or it could have been used as a powerful destructive weapon. In the circle of flame, human relationships reinforced, so creating the bases for the first communities. The use of fire, which can be dated around 400.000 years ago, has revealed fundamental for human civilization’s development, so improving greatly the quality of life. Moreover the fire has often assumed a symbolic importance for a number of religions and cultural traditions, besides having been indispensable for the origin of various reflections along the history. According to the Greek Mythology, Prometeo had stolen the fire to gods for giving it, as a gift, to men needing help, so transferring them its power. Even nowadays the fire is symbol of strength, willpower, passion, and often associated to energy.