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The application of heat-treatment technology on lithic raw materials is an important feature of early modern human behaviour. The evidence of heat-treated stone artefacts discovered at Localities 2 and 12 of the Shuidonggou Late Palaeolithic site, North-West China, provides an important example for studying this technology among ancient humans in Asia during the Late Palaeolithic. The mechanism and effects of heat treatment on raw materials and the role of this technology in producing stone tools were studied by means of a simulation experiment and related analytical methods. These facilitated an in-depth analysis of the heat-treatment activities of the Shuidonggou occupants and their implications for cognitive ability and survival strategies of human populations at that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]