When did we stop cooking meat on a stick and transition to cooking on a skillet or grill? When did pots and pans start being a thing?
How did people cook before metal pots and pans? I've seen various documentaries about primitive people living out in the bush or in the Amazon rainforest and while they live in huts and basically hunter-gather, they all have modern metal cookware. I know those people must have aquired them through trade, but what did people do before modern cookware?
The earliest cookware we know of dates from 19,600±400 BP and was found in Xianrendong Cave, China. They take the form of pottery vessels, and likely would be placed directly into the fire or coals to cook very slowly over low heat.
There is little evidence of cooking vessels from before the advent of pottery, as the physical remains would decay quickly. Covering the food with clay or large leaves is still common in modern cuisine, but would not leave much evidence behind, especially after 20000 years.