Heat treatment predominates among silcrete tools at ~72 thousand years ago (ka) and appears as early as 164 ka at Pinnacle Point, on the south coast of South Africa. The analysis of tools at multiple sites shows that the source stone materials were systematically manipulated with fire to improve their flaking properties. It first provided heat and light and later allowed the physical properties of materials to be manipulated for the production of ceramics and metals. "The controlled use of fire was a breakthrough adaptation in human evolution. Brown, a doctoral student at the University of Cape Town, and colleagues published " Fire as an Engineering Tool of Early Modern Humans," Science, 14 August 2009: 325, 859-62.
0 kommentar(er)
