fiReproxies: A computational model providing insight into heat-affected archaeological lithic assemblages

Area of Science:

• Archaeological Science
• Computational Archaeology
• Palaeolithic Studies

Background:

• Evidence for early human fire use is often indirect, relying on thermally altered lithic artifacts (heated stones) rather than hearth features, especially in Palaeolithic assemblages.
• Interpreting the quantity of heated stones as a proxy for fire use intensity is challenging due to understudied influencing factors.
• Previous research focused on the physical effects of heat on stone, but not the depositional and environmental mechanisms affecting fire proxy evidence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and apply a novel computer-based model, fiReproxies, for simulating and quantifying the factors influencing lithic artifact heating in archaeological contexts.
• To investigate the complex interplay between environmental, behavioral, and depositional factors on the visibility of fire signals in archaeological layers.
• To demonstrate the model's utility by applying it to hypothetical Middle Palaeolithic cave site scenarios.

Main Methods:

• Development of a computer-based simulation model (fiReproxies) to model anthropogenic fire events and their impact on lithic artifacts.
• Simulation of two distinct archaeological layers representing glacial and interglacial conditions in a generic cave site.
• Analysis of how variables such as site surface area, sedimentation rate, occupation frequency, and fire characteristics (size, intensity) influence the proportion of heated lithic evidence.

Main Results:

• The fiReproxies model successfully simulates the heating of lithic artifacts and quantifies the resulting archaeological fire signal.
• Environmental, behavioral, and depositional factors were shown to significantly influence the visibility and preservation of heated stone evidence.
• Simulations demonstrated that even with consistent fire use, varying site conditions can lead to vastly different amounts of detectable fire proxy evidence.

Conclusions:

• The study provides a new computational approach to quantitatively assess fire use in the Palaeolithic, moving beyond simple presence/absence of hearths.
• Understanding the interplay of site-specific factors is crucial for accurate interpretation of heated lithic assemblages as proxies for fire use.
• The fiReproxies model offers a valuable tool for archaeologists to reconstruct past fire behaviors and improve the interpretation of Palaeolithic sites.