Mechanical Properties of Middle Stone Age Tool-Stones from Sibhudu Cave

Patrick Schmidt's dataset contains measurements of the mechanical properties of tool-stones used by Middle Stone Age foragers at Sibhudu Cave, South Africa. The data is stored in a 5.5 KB XLS file and was last updated on June 4, 2026. It was created to evaluate raw material quality for tool making and use, correlating material properties with tool types found in the cave's sequence.

Use Cases

• Correlating raw material mechanical properties with tool types based on the described sequence of materials and tools.
• Analyzing fracture predictability for blade production as suggested by the description.
• Comparing flaking force requirements with retouch frequency across different tool-stones.
• Evaluating the trade-off between ease of flaking and durability during use for different materials.

Strengths

• Data is focused on a specific, well-described archaeological site (Sibhudu Cave).
• The description provides a clear research context linking material properties to human behavior.
• Dataset is openly licensed under CC-BY-4.0.

Limitations

• The dataset is very small at 5.5 KB, indicating limited scope.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Patrick Schmidt, via figshare.

Collection Method

Measurements of mechanical properties of archaeological tool-stones.

Time Range

Middle Stone Age.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 17:24:16; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Sibhudu Cave, South Africa.