High-Altitude Pyrenean Cave Reveals Early Copper Processing Across Millennia

Archaeologists excavating Cave 338 in the eastern Pyrenees uncovered 23 hearths with crushed green mineral fragments resembling malachite, indicating deliberate copper processing at a high-altitude site used repeatedly over about 2,000 years. The stratigraphy includes a 6,000-year-old oldest layer and layers dated roughly 5,500–4,000 years ago and ~3,000 years ago, along with human remains and pendants, suggesting possible burial or ritual use. The findings challenge the notion that high mountains were only marginal habitats for prehistoric peoples, and researchers plan further work to confirm malachite’s source and deepen the site’s chronology.