Surveys the technical interconnections between the fire quarrying of stone and the special thermal alteration of chipped stone implements by discussing two techniques known to early stoneworkers: the direct exposure of fire to induce fracture and the controlled thermal alteration to improve flaking quality. An examination of the documentation of the use of fire in lithic technology in North America; both the antiquity and the geographical extent provide critical appraisal of the validity of the reports. The mechanics of what stone undergoes during thermal alteration is described. The suggestion is that the lack of quality stone may have stimulated the development of thermal alteration. -- AATA