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Article ; Online: Steak tournedos or beef Wellington

Patrick Schmidt

Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, Vol 8, Iss 1, Pp 1-

an attempt to understand the meaning of Stone Age transformative techniques

2021 Volume 9

Abstract: Abstract Research into human uniqueness is gaining increasing importance in prehistoric archaeology. The most striking behaviour unique to early and modern humans among other primates is perhaps that they used fire to transform the properties of ... ...

Abstract	Abstract Research into human uniqueness is gaining increasing importance in prehistoric archaeology. The most striking behaviour unique to early and modern humans among other primates is perhaps that they used fire to transform the properties of materials. In Archaeology, these processes are sometimes termed “engineering” or “transformative techniques” because they aim at producing materials with altered properties. Were such transformative techniques cognitively more demanding than other tool making processes? Were they the key factors that separated early humans, such as Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens, from other hominins? Many approaches to investigating these techniques rely on their complexity. The rationale behind this is that some techniques required more steps than others, thus revealing the underlying mechanisms of human uniqueness (e.g., unique human culture). However, it has been argued that the interpretation of process complexity may be prone to arbitrariness (i.e., different researchers have different notions of what is complex). Here I propose an alternative framework for interpreting transformative techniques. Three hypotheses are derived from an analogy with well-understood processes in modern-day cuisine. The hypotheses are about i) the requirement in time and/or raw materials of transformative techniques, ii) the difficulty to succeed in conducting transformative techniques and iii) the necessity to purposefully invent transformative techniques, as opposed to discovering them randomly. All three hypotheses make testable predictions.
Keywords	History of scholarship and learning. The humanities ; AZ20-999 ; Social Sciences ; H
Subject code	930
Language	English
Publishing date	2021-11-01T00:00:00Z
Publisher	Springer Nature
Document type	Article ; Online
Database	BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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Article ; Online: Knapping force as a function of stone heat treatment

Klaus G. Nickel / Patrick Schmidt

PLoS ONE, Vol 17, Iss

2022 Volume 12

Abstract: We propose a quantitative framework for understanding the knapping force requirements imposed by different raw materials in their unheated and heat-treated states. Our model interprets stone tool knapping as being the result of cracks formed during the ... ...

Abstract	We propose a quantitative framework for understanding the knapping force requirements imposed by different raw materials in their unheated and heat-treated states. Our model interprets stone tool knapping as being the result of cracks formed during the first impact with a hammer stone, followed by continued stressing of these cracks that eventually leads to flake detachment. We combine bending strength, indentation fracture resistance and “Griffith” crack lengths of flint and silcrete to obtain functions identifying critical forces for flaking without or after heat treatment. We argue that these forces are a key factor for understanding the “knappability” of different raw materials, because only forces with 100N or less can be used for very precise strike control. Our model explains for the first time why experimental knappers frequently observe that flint (a stronger material, which, in our case, has a strength above 100 MPa) is easier to knap than silcretes (which is relatively weaker with strength values at or below 60 MPa). Our findings allow for understanding the differences between heat-treated and untreated flint and silcrete in terms of knapping quality, and they allow to compare the qualities of different raw materials.
Keywords	Medicine ; R ; Science ; Q
Language	English
Publishing date	2022-01-01T00:00:00Z
Publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Document type	Article ; Online
Database	BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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Article ; Online: A new method for birch tar making with materials available in the Stone Age

Tabea J. Koch / Patrick Schmidt

Scientific Reports, Vol 12, Iss 1, Pp 1-

2022 Volume 8

Abstract: Abstract The use of birch tar can be traced back to the European Middle Palaeolithic and is relevant for our understanding of the technical skills and cognitive abilities of Neanderthals. Due to the lack of archaeological evidence, it remains unknown ... ...

Abstract	Abstract The use of birch tar can be traced back to the European Middle Palaeolithic and is relevant for our understanding of the technical skills and cognitive abilities of Neanderthals. Due to the lack of archaeological evidence, it remains unknown what techniques were used for birch tar making. Efficiency was recently used as a proxy to determine the method most likely used in the Middle Palaeolithic. Todtenhaupt et al. have proposed a technique employing a groove-like structure that is comparable with the recently presented condensation method. The groove method resulted in higher tar yields compared to other experimental aceramic production processes. However, the implications for Palaeolithic tar making remain unclear because some of the materials used in the experiment were not available then (polished granite slabs). To approach this problem, we replicated the groove with river cobbles and, in a second experiment with flint fragments, to evaluate whether similar results can be obtained. We were successful in producing birch tar in multiple runs with the cobble- and flint-grooves, which, in addition, proved to be more efficient than the condensation method in terms of tar yield per bark input. Our experimental study provides an additional possibility to make prehistoric birch tar.
Keywords	Medicine ; R ; Science ; Q
Subject code	930
Language	English
Publishing date	2022-01-01T00:00:00Z
Publisher	Nature Portfolio
Document type	Article ; Online
Database	BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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Article ; Online: The origin of chert in the Aurignacian of Vogelherd Cave investigated by infrared spectroscopy.

Benjamin Schürch / Stefan Wettengl / Simon Fröhle / Nicholas Conard / Patrick Schmidt

PLoS ONE, Vol 17, Iss 8, p e

2022 Volume 0272988

Abstract: The analyses of raw material provenance offers the possibility of tracing short and long-distance raw material transport. So far, most studies of raw material of flint and chert in Europe have been based on macroscopic analyses. We apply infrared ... ...

Abstract	The analyses of raw material provenance offers the possibility of tracing short and long-distance raw material transport. So far, most studies of raw material of flint and chert in Europe have been based on macroscopic analyses. We apply infrared spectroscopy to Aurignacian assemblages from Vogelherd cave and to the Magdalenian site Randecker Maar in southwestern Germany. We compare raw material samples from three chert-bearing areas in Germany with archaeological samples from Vogelherd. Our results show that infrared spectroscopy can distinguish between different raw materials. Our archaeological samples from Vogelherd correspond to the sampled geological cherts in terms of their spectral signature. Our comparison of reference samples and archaeological samples highlights problems in commonly used macroscopic identifications of chert raw materials.
Keywords	Medicine ; R ; Science ; Q
Language	English
Publishing date	2022-01-01T00:00:00Z
Publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Document type	Article ; Online
Database	BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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Article ; Online: Is early silcrete heat treatment a new behavioural proxy in the Middle Stone Age?

Regine E Stolarczyk / Patrick Schmidt

PLoS ONE, Vol 13, Iss 10, p e

2018 Volume 0204705

Abstract: The South African Middle Stone Age (MSA) has in recent years become increasingly important for our understanding of the emergence of 'modern human behaviours'. Several key innovations appeared in this context for the first time, significantly pre-dating ... ...

Abstract	The South African Middle Stone Age (MSA) has in recent years become increasingly important for our understanding of the emergence of 'modern human behaviours'. Several key innovations appeared in this context for the first time, significantly pre-dating their re-invention in the European Upper Palaeolithic. One of these innovations was heat treatment of stone to improve its quality for the production of stone tools. Heat treatment may even be the oldest well-documented technique used to intentionally alter the properties of materials in general. It is commonly thought of as requiring the skilled use of fire, a high degree of planning depth and complex cognitive abilities. However, to work on these fundamental concepts we need to analyse the techniques and procedures used to heat-treat and we need to understand what they imply. In this paper, we present a direct and expedient comparison between the technical complexities of four alternative heat treatment procedures by coding the behaviours required for their set-up in so-called cognigrams, a relatively new method for understanding complexity based on the problem-solution distance. Our results show that although the techniques significantly differ in complexity, the techniques used in the MSA fall within the range of complexities known from other MSA techniques. Heat treatment in above-ground fires, as it was practised during this period in South Africa, was even one of the most complex techniques at the time of its invention. Early heat treatment can therefore be considered an important behavioural proxy that may shed light on the behaviour and socioeconomic structure of past groups. The implications of this are highlighted by the ongoing debate about 'modernity', 'behavioural flexibility' and 'complex cognition' of early anatomically modern humans in Africa.
Keywords	Medicine ; R ; Science ; Q
Subject code	930
Language	English
Publishing date	2018-01-01T00:00:00Z
Publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Document type	Article ; Online
Database	BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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Article ; Online: When was silcrete heat treatment invented in South Africa?

Patrick Schmidt / Deano Stynder / Nicholas J. Conard / John E. Parkington

Palgrave Communications, Vol 6, Iss 1, Pp 1-

2020 Volume 10

Abstract: Abstract Silcrete heat treatment, along with a suit of other innovations, have been used to argue for an early onset of modern or complex behaviours in Middle Stone Age hominins. This practice was confined to South Africa’s southern and western Cape ... ...

Abstract	Abstract Silcrete heat treatment, along with a suit of other innovations, have been used to argue for an early onset of modern or complex behaviours in Middle Stone Age hominins. This practice was confined to South Africa’s southern and western Cape regions where it was continuously practised since the Still Bay industry. However, the exact moment that this technological advancement occurred still remains unclear. This is partly due to the scarcity of silcrete assemblages dating to the first half of the Middle Stone Age. To determine when silcrete heat treatment began to be well-established, we compare the silcrete assemblages from two archaeological sites situated along the south western coast of South Africa: Hoedjiespunt 1, one of the earliest Middle Stone Age silcrete assemblages dating to 119–130 ka, and Duinefontein 2, one of the latest Early Stone Age assemblages dating to 200–400 ka. Our results suggest that the invention of heat treatment occurred sometime between 130 ka and 200–400 ka, as it is still absent in the earlier assemblage but fully mastered and well-integrated in the recent one. This period corresponds to the time that Homo sapiens became the major hominin species in the southern African subcontinent and it is roughly the time that silcrete use became widespread in the second half of the Cape-coastal Middle Stone Age. This opens interesting new questions on the relation between silcrete use and heat treatment and on why early modern humans spontaneously invented heat treatment when they began using silcrete in the Cape region.
Keywords	Social Sciences ; H
Subject code	930
Language	English
Publishing date	2020-04-01T00:00:00Z
Publisher	Palgrave Macmillan
Document type	Article ; Online
Database	BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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Article ; Online: Why Was Silcrete Heat-Treated in the Middle Stone Age? An Early Transformative Technology in the Context of Raw Material Use at Mertenhof Rock Shelter, South Africa.

Patrick Schmidt / Alex Mackay

PLoS ONE, Vol 11, Iss 2, p e

2016 Volume 0149243

Abstract: People heat treated silcrete during the Middle Stone Age (MSA) in southern Africa but the spatial and temporal variability of this practice remains poorly documented. This paucity of data in turn makes it difficult to interrogate the motive factors ... ...

Abstract	People heat treated silcrete during the Middle Stone Age (MSA) in southern Africa but the spatial and temporal variability of this practice remains poorly documented. This paucity of data in turn makes it difficult to interrogate the motive factors underlying the application of this technique. In this paper we present data on heat treatment of silcrete through the Howiesons Poort and post-Howiesons Poort of the rock shelter site Mertenhof, located in the Western Cape of South Africa. In contrast to other sites where heat treatment has been documented, distance to rock source at Mertenhof can be reasonably well estimated, and the site is known to contain high proportions of a diversity of fine grained rocks including silcrete, hornfels and chert at various points through the sequence. Our results suggest the prevalence of heat treatment is variable through the sequence but that it is largely unaffected by the relative abundance of silcrete prevalence. Instead there is a strong inverse correlation between frequency of heat treatment in silcrete and prevalence of chert in the assemblage, and a generally positive correlation with the proportion of locally available rock. While it is difficult to separate individual factors we suggest that, at Mertenhof at least, heat treatment may have been used to improve the fracture properties of silcrete at times when other finer grained rocks were less readily available. As such, heat treatment appears to have been a component of the MSA behavioural repertoire that was flexibly deployed in ways sensitive to other elements of technological organisation.
Keywords	Medicine ; R ; Science ; Q
Subject code	930
Language	English
Publishing date	2016-01-01T00:00:00Z
Publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Document type	Article ; Online
Database	BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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Article ; Online: On the performance of birch tar made with different techniques

Patrick Schmidt / Matthias A. Blessing / Tabea J. Koch / Klaus G. Nickel

Heritage Science, Vol 9, Iss 1, Pp 1-

2021 Volume 9

Abstract: Abstract Birch tar is one of the oldest adhesives known in human history. Its production has been discussed in the framework of early complex behaviours and sophisticated cognitive capacities. The precise production method used in the Palaeolithic ... ...

Abstract	Abstract Birch tar is one of the oldest adhesives known in human history. Its production has been discussed in the framework of early complex behaviours and sophisticated cognitive capacities. The precise production method used in the Palaeolithic remains unknown today. Arguments for or against specific production pathways have been based on efficiency or process complexity. No studies have addressed the question whether birch tar made with different techniques is more or less performant in terms of its properties. We therefore investigate the adhesive performance of birch tar made with three distinct methods: the open-air condensation method and two variations of underground structures that approximate the double-pot method in aceramic conditions. We use lap-shear testing, a standard mechanical test used for testing the strength of industrial adhesives. Tar made in 1 h with the condensation method has a shear strength similar to, although slightly higher than, tar made underground if the underground process lasts for 20 h. However, tars from shorter underground procedures (5 h) are significantly less strong (by a factor of about 3). These findings have important implications for our understanding of the relationship between the investment required for Palaeolithic birch tar production and the benefits that birch tar represented for early technology. In this regard, the simple and low-investment open-air condensation method provides the best ratio.
Keywords	Early engineering techniques ; Shear strength ; Neanderthal modernity ; Early pyrotechnology ; Adhesives ; Fine Arts ; N ; Analytical chemistry ; QD71-142
Subject code	690
Language	English
Publishing date	2021-11-01T00:00:00Z
Publisher	SpringerOpen
Document type	Article ; Online
Database	BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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Article ; Online: The mineralogy and structure of use-wear polish on chert

Patrick Schmidt / Alice Rodriguez / Kaushik Yanamandra / Rakesh K. Behera / Radu Iovita

Scientific Reports, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 1-

2020 Volume 9

Abstract: Abstract Polished edges of archaeological stone tools are commonly investigated to obtain information on the tools’ uses in prehistory. Yet to this day, it remains unclear what exactly such polishes are and how they form. Answering these questions should ...

Abstract	Abstract Polished edges of archaeological stone tools are commonly investigated to obtain information on the tools’ uses in prehistory. Yet to this day, it remains unclear what exactly such polishes are and how they form. Answering these questions should allow the elaboration of new interpretative methods based on objective measurements. Two major competing hypotheses of polish formation have been proposed: abrasion and the formation of a thin amorphous film on the chert or flint surface. We employ reflectance infrared spectroscopy, a technique particularly sensitive to thin amorphous films, to investigate these two hypotheses. We found no added amorphous layer that would have formed upon friction against bone, antler, ivory or wood. Our observations suggest polish formation by abrasion, notwithstanding previous claims of added amorphous surface structures. This has implications for our understanding of the physical processes taking place during friction of chert and flint against different materials. Our results also open the possibility to propose new pathways for identifying different use-wear processes, based on the degree of abrasion.
Keywords	Medicine ; R ; Science ; Q
Language	English
Publishing date	2020-12-01T00:00:00Z
Publisher	Nature Portfolio
Document type	Article ; Online
Database	BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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Article ; Online: Stone heat treatment in the Early Mesolithic of southwestern Germany

Patrick Schmidt / Océane Spinelli Sanchez / Claus-Joachim Kind

PLoS ONE, Vol 12, Iss 12, p e

Interpretation and identification.

2017 Volume 0188576

Abstract: The Early Mesolithic of southwestern Germany, the so-called Beuronian (9600-7100 BC), is a period of important transformations in the way people lived, in their subsistence and in the stone tools they produced. One of the perhaps most spectacular re- ... ...

Abstract	The Early Mesolithic of southwestern Germany, the so-called Beuronian (9600-7100 BC), is a period of important transformations in the way people lived, in their subsistence and in the stone tools they produced. One of the perhaps most spectacular re-inventions of that time is heat treatment of stones prior to their manufacture into tools. Although heat treatment has been understood as one of the defining characteristics of the Beuronian of southwestern Germany, and although its existence has been known for almost 30 years now, relatively few systematic studies on it are available. In this paper, we present such a study, aiming to shed light on two questions: (1) what technique and heating parameters were used in the Beuronian and (2) how reliable are the macroscopic proxies traditionally used to identify heat treatment in this context? We investigate these questions using a non-destructive archaeometric technique for measuring past heating temperatures of heat-treated stones and a quantitative surface roughness analysis aiming to understand the relations between surface aspect and heat treatment. These methods are applied to 46 Jurassic chert artefacts from the site Helga-Abri located in the Swabian Alb region of southwestern Germany. Our results document that an opportunistic low-investment procedure was used to heat stone, probably relying on the use of the above-ground part of regular camp-fires. We also found that the traditionally used macroscopic criteria, such as colour and surface gloss, cannot be unambiguously used to identify heat treatment in assemblages made from Jurassic chert. These findings have important implications for our understanding of the Beuronian lithic chaîne opératoire in terms of the investment in time and resources necessary, and for the refinement of archaeological techniques used to identify heat treatment in the Mesolithic of the Swabian Alb.
Keywords	Medicine ; R ; Science ; Q
Subject code	930
Language	English
Publishing date	2017-01-01T00:00:00Z
Publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Document type	Article ; Online
Database	BASE - Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (life sciences selection)

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