High in the Spanish Pyrenees, at an altitude where steep slopes and rocky terrain still make access difficult today, archaeologists have been investigating a cave that appears to have drawn people back again and again over thousands of years. Known as Cova del Sardo, the site has yielded evidence of prehistoric expeditions, early copper mining activities, and a collection of puzzling artefacts that include green mineral stones and the tooth of a child. Individually, these finds may seem unremarkable. Together, however, they are helping researchers reconstruct a story that began around 5,500 years ago, when communities ventured into the mountains for reasons that are only now becoming clear. The discoveries suggest that these remote high-altitude landscapes played a far more significant role in prehistoric life than archaeologists once believed.
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