Understanding Fire-Cracked Rock and Background Information

This chapter presents background information on fire-cracked rock (FCR) studies, provides a definition of FCR, and discusses a variety of uses of FCR. The chapter also examines the emergence of fire and FCR use, and hot-rock cooking technology in human evolution. Naturally occurring FCR is also discussed, such as how FCR is created and affected by grassland, shrubland, and forest fires. As such, experimental studies with wildfires are explored in this chapter, as well as other rock-surface alterations created by natural processes, including: frost fracture, starch fracture, natural rounding and rock fracturing by water action, glacial polish and striation, soil polish, patina, epidote, and biological weathering. Sometimes rocks broken and altered naturally can be difficult to distinguish from chipped stone or FCR. For this reason, a summary of key ways in which rocks can fracture and become modified naturally and may resemble lithic artifacts are presented in this chapter.