archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

, fire-cracked rock (FCR) or fire-affected rock (FAR), is rock of any type that has been altered and split as the result of deliberate heating. It is a feature of many

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

s. In many cases, fire-cracked rock results when stones were used to line

hearth A hearth () is the place in a home where a fire is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for cooking, usually constituted by at least a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any combination of reredos (a lo ...

s and

earth oven An earth oven, ground oven or cooking pit is one of the simplest and most ancient cooking structures. At its most basic, an earth oven is a pit in the ground used to trap heat and bake, smoke, or steam food. Earth ovens have been used in many pl ...

s or were heated to provide a longer-lasting heat-source (similar to a modern hot water bottle). In other cases, fire-cracked rock results from stone being used to heat or boil water. The stones were heated and dropped directly into water held in containers made of skin or baskets and

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...

. This use has led fire-cracked rocks to be called "pot-boilers" in Britain. Central

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in particular is well-known archaeologically for its burned rock

midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...

s, which are piles of fire-cracked rock—often exceeding several tons of material. These represent the remains of earth ovens used in cooking

sotol Sotol is a distilled spirit from the Chihuahuan desert northern Mexico, western Texas sourced from the family of Asparagaceae; the genus Dasylirion and several species, most commonly: ''Dasylirion wheeleri'', Dasylirion durangense, ''Dasyliri ...

bulbs and other plants during prehistoric times. In Britain, these features are referred to as "

burnt mound A burnt mound is an archaeological feature consisting of a mound of shattered stones and charcoal, normally with an adjacent hearth and trough. The trough could be rock-cut, wood-lined or clay-lined to ensure it was watertight. Radiocarbon d ...

s". A fire-cracked rock bibliography has been compiled by William Doleman and published on the Tennessee Archaeology Net bibliography page

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fire-Cracked Rock Lithics Archaeological artefact types