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Making fire in the Stone Age: flint and pyrite

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Geologie en Mijnbouw

Abstract

Flint implements with rounded ends, excavated at several Late Palaeolithic sites in Denmark and the Netherlands, are described and interpreted as strike-a-lights used in combination with pyrites. Experiments were carried out; the use-wear traces on the experimental pieces are similar to those occurring on the prehistoric specimens. It is concluded that the pyrite technique for fire production most probably predated wood-on-wood techniques, both in Europe and Greenland.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Groningen Institute of Archaeology, Poststraat 6, 9712, ER Groningen, the Netherlands

    Dick Stapert

  2. Institut for Arkæologi og Etnologi, Vandkunsten 5, 1167, København K, Denmark

    Lykke Johansen

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  1. Dick Stapert
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  2. Lykke Johansen
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Stapert, D., Johansen, L. Making fire in the Stone Age: flint and pyrite. Geologie en Mijnbouw 78, 147–164 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003802432463

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