Eli5 How did humanity manage to ventilate mines?

Question

This just popped into my head, but throughout history humanity has mined to some lesser or greater extend.
But given that lightbulbs were a recent invention, how did we manage to mine throughout history. I understand the idea of the “canary in coal mine” but does it mean we basically hoped on luck or had venting periods?
I can’t imaging an old mining tunnel with torches being anything but a nightmare.

In: 16

Answer 1

1. Ancient mines weren’t very deep.
2. They used whatever lighting they had to see: oil lamps, torches, etc.
3. They did their best with ventilation shafts.
4. It was a nightmare.