Archaeologists from Spain and France have found evidence of people repeatedly climbing up to a cave 2235 metres above sea level in the Pyrenees mountains thousands of years ago, which they say was to collect and process copper. The prehistoric cave, given the designation cave 338, was found to be full of hearths that contained fragments of green rocks called malachite, which could represent early copper mining. Visits to the cave started around 5500 years ago, the researchers say, which continued for over 2000 years. The archaeologists also discovered a child's finger bone and baby tooth, which might suggest that the cave was also a burial site. The team say their discovery overturns the past belief that our ancestors only passed through high-altitude mountain areas.
Ancient humans spent millenia mining copper high up in the Pyrenees
