text: Firesetting is the process of exposing a rock face to high temperatures to induce cracking, spalling, and an overall increase to the brittleness of the rock in order to make it more susceptible to mining processes.  Understanding the process of firesetting has been a crucial element to the development of an archaeological history of mining and as such has been the subject of several experiments to reproduce the technique.  Typically firesetting experiments are conducted by setting a fire next to a predetermined rock face while taking measurements on the amount of and type of fuel used, temperatures of the fire and rock face, the amount of spalling before and after excavation, as well as the amount of time required for the different procedures.  This examination allows for several possible inferences to be made about the mining process including the total amount of fuel a mining site may have needed to complete and its effects on the surrounding environment as well as how mining labor could have been organized. One outcome of firesetting experimentation is the realization that the quenching, or dousing the rock face with water after heating, is not necessary to making the rock face easier to excavate.  The quenching process had been a standard step in most experiments with firesetting, but now more research is necessary to answer the new question of why quenching was used if it was not effective.