Prehistoric use of the fire-setting method in the copper-mining district of Cabrie`res (He´rault, France).

Fire-setting to open up mines has been used on hard rock since prehistoric times. In the copper-mining district of Cabrie`res, the existence of metre-sized spherical or sub-spherical cavities, sometimes spaced along the same vertical in an ore seam, has usually been ascribed to this method . Two AMS 14C dating of micro-charcoal found in dolomite and of burnt ore breccias related to extraction in these cavities give the ages 3830 ± 40 BP, cal BC 2340–2130 and 3900 ± 40 BP, cal BC 2480–2280, which is the first evidence in France of the use of fire-setting in prehistoric mines. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]