Mining during the 1st c. BC in South-Western Gaul. Discussing the Roman implication from the case of the Arize Mountains district (Ariège, Pyrenees)

International audienceThe recent archaeological investigations carried out in the argentiferous copper mines of the Arize Mountains allowed to review the chronology of their exploitation. If the activity during the Ist c. BC is confirmed, we now know that the mines were first opened during the IVth-IIIrd c. BC and probably interrupted during the IInd c. The resumption of the exploitation at the end of IInd or beginning of the Ist c. BC, in the context of increasing regional contacts with Roma, leads to a reflexion about the identity of the managers of the mines. The involvement of Italians is recognised in other mining districts, closer to the Mediterranean coast at the same period. Could they play an active role in the resumption of the Arize Mountains district?In this area, apart from the main communication axes, it does not seem that the roman presence could have been very strong during the Ist c. BC. Furthermore, the way of mining does not show major changes between the IVth-IIIrd c. and the Ist c. This make plausible that the descendants of the first miners went back to the mines on their own. The role of Roma, in this context, would have been to stimulate the demand for metals, allowing these small exploitations to work with a relative autonomy. However, the interruption of mining at the beginning of the Ist c. AD could be related with a political decision. Indeed, a new stage of activity recorded in two of these mines in the XIVth c. AD refutes a general exhaustion of the mineral deposits