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An understanding of site taphonomy is crucial to stratigraphic and artifact/ecofact interpretation. Numerous geogenic, biogenic, and anthropogenic activities have the potential to move artifacts after deposition and distort the patterning once present in hominid discarded debris. Taphonomy at a Middle Stone Age cave (Pinnacle Point 13B) near Mossel Bay, South Africa is investigated here using artifact orientation data collected during excavation. Two angle measurements (bearing and plunge) were taken for all artifacts with a distinct long axis. The data are analyzed here using both graphical and statistical approaches, and a new graphical approach is presented. Using these measurements it is possible to distinguish between layers and areas of the site that are minimally disturbed and those that have been reworked to varying degrees. Data of this type are still not usually presented in publications of stone age sites. Given the complexities of the taphonomic history of these ancient sites, such data and analyses should become standard practice., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The controlled use of fire was a breakthrough adaptation in human evolution. It first provided heat and light and later allowed the physical properties of materials to be manipulated for the production of ceramics and metals. The analysis of tools at multiple sites shows that the source stone materials were systematically manipulated with fire to improve their flaking properties. Heat treatment predominates among silcrete tools at approximately 72 thousand years ago (ka) and appears as early as 164 ka at Pinnacle Point, on the south coast of South Africa. Heat treatment demands a sophisticated knowledge of fire and an elevated cognitive ability and appears at roughly the same time as widespread evidence for symbolic behavior.