The advent and control of fire led – eventually but inevitably – to the Stone Age transforming into the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. And in due course it has given the Electrical Age and the Plastics Age and the current Semiconductors Age. All these “Ages” are surely part of the Anthropocene. There is a case to be made for the advent of stone tools defining Man but I think there is a much stronger case to be made for the advent and control of fire being what defines and distinguishes “Man” from all other animals.