Conny Waters – AncientPages.com –  Cave 338 is located at a high altitude in the Pyrenees and is hard to reach. Still, about 5,500 years ago, people from a prehistoric community climbed up to this cave again and again. Scientists are now wondering what drew them there.

Previously, researchers believed that prehistoric people only passed through high mountain areas for short periods, not staying to use the resources. However, new findings suggest otherwise.

External view of the Cave 338; entrance on the right side. Credit: Tornero C, Díez-Canseco C. et al. 2026

Archaeologists are now uncovering the secrets of this intriguing prehistoric cave, filled with hearths and pieces of green rock that may reveal early copper mining. They have also found jewelry and remains from at least one child. The discovery of a child’s finger bone and baby tooth suggests that, with more digging, the cave could turn out to be a burial site as well.

“For a long time, high-mountain environments were seen as marginal, places prehistoric communities passed through occasionally,” said Prof Carlos Tornero of the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution, lead author of the article in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.

Malachite fragments, a mineral rich in copper, recovered during the excavation works at Cova 338. Authorship: Maria D. Guillén / IPHES-CERCA.

“But we found a really rich archaeological sequence, including multiple combustion structures and a very large number of green mineral fragments. We can’t say exactly how long people stayed each time, but the repeated use of the space and the density of remains suggest occupations that were short to medium in duration, but happening again and again over long periods of time.”

Was Cave 338 An Ancient Mining Camp?

Cave 338 sits 2,235 meters above sea level in the Freser Valley. Scientists dug a 6-square-meter area at the entrance and found four layers of human activity. The first, most recent layer was thin, suggesting the cave was rarely used at that time and contained only a few artifacts from historical times. The deepest, oldest layer had only charcoal fragments, which are about 6,000 years old.

Pendant made from a bear incisor recovered during the excavation works at Cova 338. Authorship: IPHES-CERCA.

The most exciting finds came from the second and third layers, where researchers uncovered 23 hearths containing numerous crushed and burned green mineral fragments. While detailed analysis is still ongoing, the fragments appear to be malachite, a mineral that can be processed to produce copper. Therefore, this suggests Cave 338 may have been an early high-altitude mining camp.

“Many of these fragments are thermally altered, while other materials in the cave are not, which clearly suggests that fire played an important role in their processing and that there was a deliberate intention behind it,” said Dr. Julia Montes-Landa of the University of Granada, co-author. “In other words, they weren’t burned by accident.”

The overlapping hearths indicate frequent reuse of the space, yet their distinctness suggests significant intervals between visits. Radiocarbon dating shows the hearth in the second layer is about 3,000 years old, while those in the third layer date from 5,500 to 4,000 years ago.

Secrets Of The Mountains

The team also found human remains in the third layer, including a finger bone and a baby tooth from at least one child who was about 11 years old. This suggests there may be more burials deeper in the cave. However, there is not enough evidence to know the cause of death or if the two bones came from the same child. Jewelry found in the second layer provided more clues.

Archaeological excavation works at Cova 338 from the inside. Authorship: IPHES-CERCA.

“We recovered two pendants: one made from a shell and another from a brown bear tooth,” said Tornero. “They come from prehistoric contexts, most likely around the second millennium BC. The shell pendant is interesting because it has parallels in other sites in Catalonia, which suggests shared traditions or connections between different communities. The bear tooth pendant is much less common. That might point to something more specific or symbolic, possibly linked to the local environment.”

Detail of the pendant made of Glycymeris sp. recovered during the excavation works at Cova 338. Authorship: IPHES-CERCA.

Cave 338 wasn’t a full-time home, but the people who came here found their trips valuable enough to keep returning for millennia. The researchers still have many questions about those trips, which they hope to answer through future research. For example, further excavation will help us better understand how and when humans used the cave. They also want to confirm the exact identity of the green mineral and find out where it came from.

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“The identification of the green mineral as malachite is still preliminary,” explained Tornero. “The research ongoing by the University of Granada and the Autonomous University of Barcelona will provide final answers shortly. Also, the excavation hasn’t yet reached the full depth of the site, so the sequence is not completely documented. This summer we will continue the archaeological work.”

The study was published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology

Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer