Green rocks found in newly discovered cave in the Pyrenees

The discovery of malachite fragments in the Copper Age cave indicates that humans were already processing copper 7000 years ago.

A newly discovered cave high in the Pyrenees is revealing new details about prehistoric life, suggesting that early humans operated a storage site. high altitude copper processing for a long period, thousands of years ago.

Archaeologists working in northeastern Spain, close to the border with France, discovered the cave at an altitude of more than 2235 meters in the province of Girona. Inside, they found stunning evidence of ongoing human activity, including layers of green mineral fragments, charcoal, hearths, pottery, animal bones and even human remains. The findings, in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Archeology, indicate that the site was used repeatedly over a period of more than 4000 years.

The central point of the discovery is the presence of nearly 200 fragments of a vibrant green mineralbelieved to be malachite, a copper-rich stone that is not found naturally in the cave. The researchers say this strongly suggests that prehistoric communities deliberately transported the material for processing, explains the .

“Many of these fragments show thermal changes, which clearly suggests that the fire played an important role in its processing and that there was a deliberate intention behind it,” said co-author Julia Montes-Landa. “In other words, they were not burned by accident.”

The archaeological site Copper Age datewhen early European societies began extracting and working with copper to create tools and ornaments. The cave appears to have been used most intensively between 3600 and 2400 BC, with dozens of burn pits indicating repeated heating processes used to extract copper from the mineral.

Investigators believe the process involved heating malachite to produce copper oxidewhich could then be reduced with charcoal to produce metallic copper. The abundance of charcoal found in the cave corroborates this theory.

The excavation also revealed personal artifacts and human remains. Among the discoveries were a shell shaped pendant of a mollusk of the Glycymeris species and a perforated tooth from an Ursus arctos, probably used as jewelry. A baby tooth and a finger bone were also discovered, suggesting that the cave may have served as a funeral place.

“For the first time in the Pyrenees, prehistoric high mountain occupations of significant intensity have been documented,” said Carlos Tornero, lead author of the study. “This site demonstrates that Pyrenees were not a marginal territorybut rather a space fully integrated into its mobility and territorial exploration strategies”, said Tornero.