At over 2,200 metres altitude in the Catalan Pyrenees, an inconspicuous cave hides one of the oldest copper processing workshops ever discovered in Western Europe. Cova 338, excavated by researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and IPHES-CERCA, has yielded evidence of intensive malachite processing spanning 4,000 years, from the 5th millennium BCE to the late 1st millennium BCE. Published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, the study reveals that the high Pyrenean mountains were not a marginal zone, but a strategic pillar of the regional prehistoric economy.1
A Workshop Cave at 2,200 Metres
Cova 338 is a small limestone cavity perched in the Catalan Pyrenees, today accessible only to hikers and mountain wildlife. Excavations revealed nearly 200 fragments of green stone (malachite) associated with charcoal in 23 combustion hearths spread throughout the site's stratigraphyStratigraphyThe study of the superimposed layers (strata) of an archaeological site; each layer corresponds to a phase of occupation and yields a relative chronology.→. Malachite, a green copper carbonate, does not occur naturally in the cave: it was therefore transported from external deposits, processed on-site by heating, and converted into metallic copper by pyrochemical reduction.
Radiocarbon dating of the charcoal traced almost continuous occupation between 4,900 and 900 BCE, representing 4,000 years of metallurgical activity at a single site. This exceptional longevity suggests Cova 338 was not a transit camp or emergency shelter, but a specialised production site, regularly visited by communities that had detailed knowledge of the mineralogical resources of their high-mountain environment.
The Green Gold of the Pyrenees
Malachite, nicknamed "green gold" by the researchers, was a rare and precious resource in ChalcolithicChalcolithicThe "Copper Age": a transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, marked by the first copper objects (Ötzi's era).→ and Bronze AgeBronze AgeA protohistoric period following the Neolithic, defined by bronze metallurgy (a copper-tin alloy) and the rise of the first cities and states; in Egypt it corresponds to the age of the first pyramids.→ Europe. Converting it to metallic copper required sophisticated technical mastery: malachite must be heated above 1,000°C in a reducing atmosphere, an operation requiring bellows, abundant fuel (pine wood was available at these altitudes) and specialised know-how passed down through generations.2
The copper produced at Cova 338 was probably intended for distribution through regional exchange networks. Copper objects of similar chemical compositions have been found at lowland sites in northern Iberia dating to the same period, suggesting that the Pyrenees constituted one of the metal supply sources for the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age cultures of the entire region.3
High Mountains: The Industrial Heart of PrehistoryPrehistoryThe span of human history before the invention of writing, from the Palaeolithic to the Metal Ages, known mainly through material remains.→
The Cova 338 discovery fits within a broader archaeological trend: the revision of the role of high-mountain zones in the prehistoric economy. Long seen as marginal spaces, accessible only in summer and of little productivity, mountains are now recognised as strategic resource zones, intensively exploited by prehistoric populations for their game, minerals, pastures and timber. The high Pyrenean mountain was not the wild "wilderness" once imagined: it was a deeply anthropised space, integrated into the economic networks of southern Europe for at least 7,000 years.
Ca me fait penser à la mécanique de Paleo mais aussi à 7 Wonders avec l'Age du Bronze — ce continuum entre les premiers artisans et les metallurgistes. 4000 ans de continuité sur un seul site, c'est une donnée qu'on ne voit jamais dans les jeux et pourtant elle serait passionnante à simuler.
En tant qu'ingénieur, c'est le côté technique qui me captive. Dépasser les 1000°C en atmosphère réductrice avec des soufflets préhistoriques, ca n'a rien de trivial. Il fallait comprendre empiriquement la chimie de réduction du minerai avant de pouvoir la reproduire. Ce savoir-faire transmis sur 4000 ans est remarquable.
Je prépare un voyage dans les Pyrénées catalanes en septembre pour visiter des sites mégalithiques. Est-ce que la Cova 338 est accessible au public, ou est-ce strictement réservé aux fouilles ? L'idée d'un hub industriel à 2200 m d'altitude sur 4000 ans me fascine — j'aimerais pouvoir y monter.