USE OF WOOD IN PREHISTORIC HEARTHS - AN E XPERIMENTAL APPROACH

We present here the results of more than 40 experiences (simple hearth s, pit hearths and pit hearths with stone border) made with differents kinds of wood (Nothofagus pumilio and betuloides, Berberis illcifolia and buxfolia Drimys winteri, Prosopis alba, Larrea divaricata, cuneif olia and nitida, Azorella yareta, Lepidophylum sp. Salix alba, Pinus s ylvestris, and Betula verrucosa) in Argentine and France. We underline some of the aspects related to the problems of wood economy, wood tra nsport and fire control expressed by the relation between differents m agnitudes (weigth/volume/temperatures/burning time of burning) which a re in connetion with the activities of prehistoric hunter-gatherer gro ups.