Burned Stone, Child's Bones, and Lost Jewelry Hint at Prehistoric Mining Camp High in the Pyrenees
Researchers found nearly 200 malachite fragments and 23 hearths, suggesting prehistoric visitors repeatedly processed copper ore at the site.
- On Tuesday, researchers published a study in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology identifying Cave 338 in Spain's Pyrenees Mountains as a prehistoric copper-processing site, situated at 2,235 meters above sea level in Girona province.
- Archaeologists discovered nearly 200 fragments of malachite alongside 23 hearths containing burned mineral residue, with Julia Montes-Landa, an archaeologist at the University of Granada, noting that "fire played an important role in their processing."
- Radiocarbon dating reveals intensive activity between 3600 and 2400 B.C. during Europe's Copper Age, with communities repeatedly visiting the site for more than 4,000 years, fundamentally changing assumptions about high-altitude prehistoric occupation.
- Personal items including a shell pendant made from Glycymeris and a perforated Ursus arctos tooth, combined with a child's finger bone and baby tooth, suggest the cave also served as a burial space for prehistoric communities.
- Lead author Carlos Tornero, a prehistoric archaeologist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, stated the site demonstrates "the Pyrenees were not a marginal territory," but fully integrated into prehistoric mobility and resource exploitation strategies.
14 Articles
14 Articles
Burned stone and child’s remains point to prehistoric mining site in the Pyrenees
A cave high in the eastern Pyrenees is reshaping ideas about how prehistoric people used mountain landscapes. New excavations suggest that, far from passing through, communities returned repeatedly to the site over thousands of years—likely to work copper-rich minerals. The site, known as Cave 338, sits at 2,235 metres above sea level in the Freser Valley. Its altitude alone once made sustained human activity seem unlikely. But archaeologists no…
6K Years Ago, They Climbed a Mountain to Get at Metal
High in Spain's Pyrenees, a cave packed with green stones is rewriting what archaeologists thought they knew about prehistoric life in the mountains. A new study argues the site, 7,300 feet up in Girona province, was a seasonal copper-smelting camp used on and off for more than 4,000...
Burned stone, child's bones, and lost jewelry hint at prehistoric mining camp high in the Pyrenees
In the past, scientists thought that prehistoric peoples only traveled briefly through high-altitude mountain areas, rather than staying to take advantage of their resources. But new evidence suggests that, starting about 5,500 years ago, a prehistoric community repeatedly climbed up to Cave 338, 2,235 meters above sea level in the Pyrenees, to collect and process malachite for copper—returning many times over thousands of years. Additional finds
Prehistoric child’s finger bone, bear tooth pendant, and more discovered in Spanish cave
Life at high altitudes is unforgiving. The thin air and atmosphere make breathing and other bodily functions difficult—especially for humans. However, a cave over 7,000 feet above sea level in the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain is forcing archaeologists to rethink how often our prehistoric ancestors made use of these heights. A team found a cave in Spain full of hearths, jewelry, and human remains, indicating that people may have b…
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