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Heat treatment and mechanics of Moravian Jurassic cherts

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Abstract

Experimental heat treatment was applied to Moravian (Czech Republic) Jurassic cherts of Olomučany type to find whether it leads to better flaking properties. Indentation tests and other tests were used and compared with the changes in infrared (NIR) spectra which are usually indicative of mechanical changes linked with water loss from the material. The indentation tests provided ambiguous results due to irregular propagation of cracks from indent corners. On the other hand, three-point-load fracturing and resonance tests were usable and indicated that the cherts are best flakeable after heating to 300 °C when fracture toughness is reduced whereas elastic modulus increases. These two changes complement each other: The first causes easier flakeability and the other more stable crack propagation and predictability. The simultaneous formation of fluid inclusions probably contributes to swifter crack propagation. As shown by our sequence statistics analysis, the drop in fracture toughness seems to be a more gradual process, whereas the increase in stiffness at 300 °C is rather sudden. The fact that the Olomučany chert or other fine-grained lithologies were not heat-treated in the prehistory of eastern Central Europe indicates that the improvement by heat treatment was not practised in this area in prehistory, unlike in more westerly regions. This may be due to long-distance imports of other, finer-grained lithologies, a strategy frequented in the region since 40,000 BCE.

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Funding

This research was financed by the Czech Science Foundation project 18-02606S: non-destructive determination of heated artefacts in Upper Palaeolithic assemblages (2018–2020). The work of Petr Schnabl in the year 2021 was financed by the Czech Science Foundation project 20-10035 S and institutional support RVO 67985831.

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  1. Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Martin Moník

  2. Institute of Physics of Materials, CEITEC, Brno, Czech Republic

    Hynek Hadraba & Zdeněk Chlup

  3. Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    David Milde

  4. Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic

    Zdeňka Nerudová

  5. Institute of Geology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic

    Petr Schnabl

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Moník, M., Hadraba, H., Milde, D. et al. Heat treatment and mechanics of Moravian Jurassic cherts. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 13, 158 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01388-z

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