Archaeological team discovers prehistoric remains and hearths in Spanish cave

7 articles · Updated · Popular Science · May 5

At Cave 338 in Spain's Núria Valley, 7,332 feet up, researchers found 23 hearths, a child's finger bone, a baby tooth, and shell and bear-tooth pendants.
A Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology study says the cave was repeatedly used between about 5,500 and 3,000 years ago, possibly as a high-altitude mining camp processing copper-rich malachite.
The finds challenge assumptions that prehistoric people only briefly crossed such mountain zones and suggest possible burial activity, with further fieldwork planned this summer to identify the green mineral.

How did a baby's tooth end up in Europe's earliest known high-altitude mining camp?

What mysterious green mineral was valuable enough to draw families to a remote Pyrenees peak for 3,000 years?

Did ancient Pyrenean people carry special genes to survive 7,000 feet above sea level?