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Flint and pyrite: making fire in the Stone Age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Dick Stapert and
Lykke Johansen
Dick Stapert
Affiliation:
Groningen Institute of Archaeology, Groningen University, Poststraat 6, 9712 ER Groningen, Netherlands. d.stapert@let.rug.nl
Lykke Johansen
Affiliation:
Institut for Arkæologi og Etnologi, Copenhagen University, Vandkunsten 5, 1167 København K, Denmark
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Abstract

Flint implements with rounded ends, excavated at several Upper Palaeolithic sites in Denmark and Holland, are interpreted as strike-a-lights used in combination with pyrites. Experimental flints employed in this way show use-wear traces similar to those on the prehistoric specimens. It is suggested that the pyrite technique for fire production pre-dates wood-on-wood techniques, at least in Europe and in Greenland.

Keywords

Palaeolithicfire productionstrike-a-lightpyriteexperimental archaeologyuse-wear tracesEuropeGreenland

Information

Type
Papers
Information
Antiquity , Volume 73 , Issue 282 , December 1999, pp. 765 - 777
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1999

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