Ancient humans had a mining factory in the mountains 7,000 years ago, for 5,000 years

A discovery high in the mountains of Spain has thrown light on how people lived between the 5th and 1st millennia BC. For the longest time, archaeologists believed that areas above 6,562ft were only used as a passing by ancient humans. However, they have found a prehistoric cave known as Cova that sits 7,333ft above sea level and was once inhabited. For 5,000 years, multiple civilisations lived in this cave. But it was never continuously occupied, as humans came and went regularly. It was abandoned for years, evidence shows, but they kept returning, suggesting that the time for its occupation was preplanned. Ancient humans came here to fragment and process minerals, as shown by the findings in this cave.

Lead author of the study, Carlos Tornero, said, “For a long time, these spaces were assumed to be marginal. What we document here is recurrent occupation, with complex activities and a clear exploitation of mineral resources.” It was published in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.

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What scientists found in the Spanish cave

Scientists from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA) led excavations at the cave between 2021 and 2023. They found animal bones, ceramic fragments, proof that fire was lit here, and two pendants, one made from marine shell and the other a brown bear tooth. The discovery of green minerals in the cave suggests the site was used for copper extraction, one of the earliest such evidence in Western Europe. Scientists think the green minerals are likely malachite, a copper carbonate mineral. The researchers say everything that transpired at this cave was highly organised, indicating that it was used for systemised exploitation of minerals at specific times in history.

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A global trend of high-altitude pioneers: Ancient parallels of humans living at extreme heights

However, Spain is not the only place where ancient humans lived at great heights. Scientists are finding evidence that early humans colonised mountains in other parts of the world much earlier than we thought. The Baishiya Karst Cave on the Tibetan Plateau was inhabited by ancient hominins, or Denisovans, for over 100,000 years, despite lying at a staggering 10,760 feet above sea level.

Another similarity lies with the Can Tintorer mines in Gavà, Catalonia, which have also been studied by researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. While the residents of Cova processed green minerals (malachite) for copper extraction, Can Tintorer is a famous Neolithic mining complex in the same region where ancient humans mined variscite, a green mineral used for jewellery. Later, it was also used for copper mining.