La production du feu par percussion de la pierre. Préhistoire - Ethnographie - Expérimentation.

Man’s mastery of fire is founded on several abilities, of which the most important is the knowledge of techniques that permit it to be produced at will using familiar instruments and actions. It is the different components of this primordial stage in human culture that B. Roussel considers here, chiefly concentrating on one of the main techniques, the striking of stone. The author scrupulously analyses all the ingredients that permit the spark to fly: the choice of percussive materials, the initiator, the effective actions. The different methods available to man for the production of fire, from ethnographic data on, are minutely described. The mix of physical components provides the framework for a close reading of how the evidence can be interpreted differently in different cultural traditions.. The archaeological record is then presented and carefully analysed.
In both cases the interpretation of the remains is the prime aim of a critique which demonstrates both the full difficulty, but also the potential richness, of studying lighting shown in each section. Careful analysis of the sources, illuminating use of the most pertinent ethnographic parallels, the accuracy of practical experimentation, all presented in an exemplary fashion, make this book a true manual of the production of light by striking stone.Man’s mastery of fire is founded on several abilities, of which the most important is the knowledge of techniques that permit it to be produced at will using familiar instruments and actions. It is the different components of this primordial stage in human culture that B. Roussel considers here, chiefly concentrating on one of the main techniques, the striking of stone. The author scrupulously analyses all the ingredients that permit the spark to fly: the choice of percussive materials, the initiator, the effective actions. The different methods available to man for the production of fire, from ethnographic data on, are minutely described. The mix of physical components provides the framework for a close reading of how the evidence can be interpreted differently in different cultural traditions.. The archaeological record is then presented and carefully analysed.
In both cases the interpretation of the remains is the prime aim of a critique which demonstrates both the full difficulty, but also the potential richness, of studying lighting shown in each section. Careful analysis of the sources, illuminating use of the most pertinent ethnographic parallels, the accuracy of practical experimentation, all presented in an exemplary fashion, make this book a true manual of the production of light by striking stone.