Green Rocks Reveal Ancient Copper Mining in a High-Altitude Pyrenees Cave
Archaeologists excavating Cave 338 in the Pyrenees uncovered burnt green malachite fragments, hearths, jewelry, and human remains dating roughly 5,500 to 4,000 years ago, suggesting prehistoric people intermittently used the high-altitude cave to process copper rather than merely passing through, challenging the idea that mountains were marginal for ancient economies.