How tinder fungus boiled in urine helped ancient humans ignite fire

Nature has created several unique organisms which proved useful to ancient man and enabled his evolution into the present state. One such species is ‘tinder fungus’, also known as ‘hoof fungus’ owing to its shape resembling the hoof of a horse. It is seen in Europe, Asia and North America. Scientifically referred to as Fomes fomentarius, the fungus was used by ancient human beings to create fire.

The Vikings, who lived in Scandinavia, found an ingenious method to make tinder fungus more combustible. They sliced away the external layer of the fungus and chopped the internal part into small pieces. These pieces were softened by thrashing with stone and dried to bring about a chemical transformation, following which they were boiled in urine.

The product obtained by this process would smoulder for several days and could be conveniently carried to many places. As a result, it proved very useful to start a fire quickly. The advantage of the fungus was that it easily caught fire from the sparks produced by scraping against a stone, making it popular among the ancient people.

While Vikings are believed to have developed this technique, other prehistoric populations were also found to have used it. In fact, there were remnants of tinder fungus among the personal belongings of Otzi, the 5,000-year-old mummy discovered in Europe.