The evolution of heat treatment for stone artefact production is a subject of major interest for our understanding of early modern humans. In this study, we examine the evidence from one region in Australia to provide a new record of the antiquity of heat treatment, explore chronological shifts in the frequency of heat treatment, and discuss the implications of these findings for early population dynamics and the technical knowledge early settlers might have brought with them. Until now, Australian heat treatment has only dated back 25000 years. This study of the Willandra Lakes, including Lake Mungo, has identified the oldest systematic evidence of heat treatment yet reported in Australia, dating to ∼42000 years. We also document time-dependent directional change in the frequency of the practice. At those early times, with over 60% of all silcrete artefacts heat-treated, we hypothesize that the practice was mastered and integrated as a recurrent technical solution to the complexities of knapping silcrete. Over time, the use of heat treatment decreased progressively until less than 10% of the artefacts were heat-treated in the terminal Holocene. This trajectory has implications for understanding the antiquity of heat treatment on the Australian continent and for investigating the factors that governed its use.

对于我们对早期现代人类的了解，石材制品生产中热处理技术的发展引起了人们的极大兴趣。在这项研究中，我们检查了来自澳大利亚一个地区的证据，以提供有关热处理古代的新记录，探讨热处理频率的时间顺序变化，并讨论这些发现对早期人口动态和技术知识的影响。早期的定居者可能带来了他们。到目前为止，澳大利亚的热处理仅可追溯到25000年。这项对Willandra湖（包括芒戈湖）的研究已经确定了澳大利亚迄今所报告的最古老的热处理系统证据，可追溯到大约42000年。我们还记录了练习频率中随时间变化的方向变化。在那些早期，我们假设经过60％以上的silcrete人工制品热处理后，我们假设该实践已被掌握并整合为解决打扰silcrete的复杂性的循环技术解决方案。随着时间的流逝，热处理的使用逐渐减少，直到少于10％的文物在全新世末期进行了热处理。该轨迹对于理解澳大利亚大陆上的古代热处理以及调查控制其使用的因素具有重要意义。