The fireplace - a brief history

"The fireplace is the earliest heating equipment, also considered the ancestor of the terracotta stove. Our ancestors were exposed to the climate as well as we are today, so they lit a fire inside their home, where they could prepare the food and could warm up. It took time until they realized that by building a smokestack around the fire they dispose of unpleasant smoke and the risk of burning down their home decreases. Entire settlements were destroyed by fire in the Middle Age.
The first real fireplaces decorated the medieval castles of Europe. The fireplace was an independent source of fire, which, through the level of decoration, simbolized the rank of its owner."

(http://tuzimado.hu/kandallo/kandallo-feeling/a-kandallo-es-a-futes-tortenete/, 2008.01.28.)