When did coal mining start?

Coal mining began in Pre-History of the Human Race. Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world are drawn by coal. Hunter Gatherers would often identify coal at the land surface level, following by digging deeper if necessary. Populations rapidly found use for coal. Portable Fire, creation of tools, hunting instruments, and food preparation tools among thousands of other uses evolving uses as the Human Race evolved. It is common for Indigenous Americans to use coal as Animal and Human Body / War Paint. Ancient Egyptian Calligraphy scribed some 2,000 years BC has provided written records of large scale coal mining. Coal ash was used to settle the stones of the Great Pyramids, for example.