A quest for Palaeolithic fire starters: a new methodological framework to identify strike-a-lights

The use of fire is generally seen as an important step in human evolution. However, physical evidence for early fire use is very sporadic. In Europe, traces of habitual fire use do not occur until about 400,000 to 300,000 years ago. Furthermore, a distinction needs to be made between fire users and actual fire producers. This leads to the question, how can we identify the actual production of fire in Palaeolithic contexts? A new study published in JAS tackles this question by trying to establish a new methodology to identify lithics used as strike-a-lights.

The paper provides a nice background to the topic, firstly discussing the ethnographic data on fire production by hunter-gatherers. Two main techniques are used in these contexts, wood-on-wood friction and stone-on-stone percussion or friction. Due to preservational issues, for the Palaeolithic record we are constricted to the latter. Secondly, the existing archaeological evidence from Upper (UP) and Middle Palaeolithic (MP) contexts is discussed. Few Palaeolithic artefacts have been listed as possible strike-a-lights, the best MP example being a Mousterian point from Bettencourt (France). Sulphuric iron fragments (like pyrite) are also uncommon, a rare example being a nodule from La Cotte a la Chevre (Jersey). This led the authors to question if we are actually currently able to recognise these artefacts in the Palaeolithic record. [...] globalpalaeonews / Link 3