The mechanical properties of heat-treated rocks: a comparison between chert and silcrete

In archaeology, heat treatment of stone is the process of “making” a new material for tool production. Its invention in the African Middle Stone Age was an important step in the evolution of transformative technologies and the cultural evolution of early humans in general. Although the chemical and crystallographic transformations in silica rocks, the only material class heat-treated in the Stone Age, begin to be well known, many of the...