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The thermal behaviour of silica varieties used for tool making in the Stone Age

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Abstract

Before 100,000 years ago, during the Middle Stone Age (MSA) of South Africa, silica varieties of minerals and rocks were sometimes heated during tool making in order to improve their knapping properties. If the heating and cooling process is not controlled, failure results and the nodules fracture. Recently, we postulated that the reversible α- to β-phase transition may play a role in causing silcrete, a type of rock often used to make stone tools in the Western Cape, to fracture. In this new study, we analyse the thermal behaviour (520–620 °C) of silcrete and compare it to that of two chalcedony samples from different origins, together with samples of chert, agate and flint. These minerals and rocks were commonly used to make stone tools. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements show that the α- to β-phase transformation is prominent in silcrete, agate and one of the chalcedony samples, weaker in chert and the second chalcedony sample, but non-existent in flint. X-ray fluorescence (XRF), thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and carbon and sulphur analyses show differences in elemental composition between the rocks and minerals. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy highlight differences in microstructure. These small differences in chemical composition and structure contribute to a variety of chemical reactions and phase transformations that can take place in rocks and minerals, which in combination determine their stability upon heating and show that care should be taken when generalising thermal behaviour.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Wiebke Grote and Dr. Jeanette Dykstra from the XRD & XRF Facility, Department of Geology, University of Pretoria, for the XRD and XRF measurements, respectively. We thank Paloma de la Peña for providing the flint sample and G. L. Prinsloo for the digital images of the samples. All the authors acknowledge the National Research Foundation (NRF) for financial support. Opinions expressed in the paper are not necessarily those of the NRF. We thank two anonymous reviewers for useful comments that improved this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    Linda C. Prinsloo

  2. Department of Physics, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, 0028, South Africa

    Linda C. Prinsloo

  3. Department of Chemistry, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, 0028, South Africa

    Elizabet M. van der Merwe

  4. Evolutionary Studies Institute, and the Centre of Excellence, Palaeosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, PO Wits, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa

    Lyn Wadley

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  1. Linda C. Prinsloo
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  2. Elizabet M. van der Merwe
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  3. Lyn Wadley
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Correspondence to Linda C. Prinsloo.

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Prinsloo, L.C., van der Merwe, E.M. & Wadley, L. The thermal behaviour of silica varieties used for tool making in the Stone Age. J Therm Anal Calorim 131, 1135–1145 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-017-6602-z

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