Miners in Iberia 5,300 years ago had high social status and rich burials

Stone Age Iberian miners of both sexes 5,300 to 4,300 years ago are believed to have had important status in their community near what is now Barcelona, Spain, as some of their dead were entombed in mine shafts with valuable objects. Research conducted at the prehistoric mines of Gava, Spain, has advanced knowledge of social contexts of early mining in Europe, transforming the belief that mining was only undertaken by the lower echelon of society.

“These results have contributed essential information for reconstructing the lifeways of the miners themselves, providing responses to many questions raised about the Neolithic community that lived, worked, died and was buried in the mines,” they wrote.

The miners shaped the mineral variscite into ornamental beads and pendants and traded 375 km (233 miles) north into France and Italy and to the west and south.