Production of stone artefacts using pyro-technology is known from the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic of Europe and the Levant, and the Middle Stone Age in Africa. However, determination of temperatures to which flint artefacts were exposed is impeded by the chemical and structural variability of flint. Here we combine Raman spectroscopy and machine learning to build temperature-estimation models to infer the degree of pyro-technological control effected by inhabitants of the late Lower Palaeolithic (Acheulo-Yabrudian) site of Qesem Cave, Israel. Temperature estimation shows that blades were heated at lower median temperatures (259 °C) compared to flakes (413 °C), whereas heat-induced structural flint damage (for example, pot-lids and microcracks) appears at 447 °C. These results are consistent with a differential behaviour for selective tool production that can be viewed as part of a plethora of innovative and adaptive behaviours of Levantine hominins >300,000 years ago.

在欧洲和黎凡特的旧石器时代中期和晚期，以及非洲的石器时代中期，人们都知道使用火法技术生产石制品。然而，燧石的化学和结构可变性阻碍了确定燧石制品所暴露的温度。在这里，我们结合拉曼光谱和机器学习来构建温度估计模型，以推断以色列 Qesem Cave 的旧石器时代晚期（Acheulo-Yabrudian）遗址的居民对烟火技术的控制程度。温度估计表明，与薄片 (413 °C) 相比，叶片在较低的中值温度 (259 °C) 下加热，而热引起的结构火石损坏（例如锅盖和微裂纹）出现在 447 °C 时。