A copper mine in southern Spain called Las Minillas appears to have been a major source of metal for Bronze Age Europe, according to research published in the journal Antiquity. The team, led by Juan Latorre-Ruiz and colleagues, dated charcoal and stone tools from the mine to between roughly 1300 and 800/700 B.C., the Late Bronze Age period.
Excavations at Las Minillas uncovered 735 grooved stone hammers and other mining infrastructure, making it the largest securely dated Late Bronze Age copper mine in Iberia. The researchers obtained 17 new radiocarbon dates from the site, adding to just 11 previous dates from five other Iberian mines.
When the team compared lead-isotope signatures and chemical compositions of ores from Las Minillas with published data on Scandinavian bronzes, 11 objects matched signatures consistent with the Spanish mine's copper. This suggests some of the metal traveled as far as Scandinavia, Britain, Ireland and Poland.
The mine is estimated to have produced about 197 tons of copper, far less than the Great Orme in Wales (202 to 756 tons during 1600–1400 B.C.) or the Mitterberg district in Austria (approximately 23,000 tons between 1700 and 1300/1200 B.C.). Production at those older mines declined by 1400 and 1300/1200 B.C. respectively. The authors propose that southern Iberian mines collectively supplied distant markets through maritime networks along the Atlantic coast as these traditional sources diminished.
The study identifies 84 mining sites as part of a broader network across southern Iberia, though the full extent remains unclear. The researchers note uncertainties remain. Many Iberian ancient mines remain unstudied, and whether these sites operated simultaneously as a regional network is still hypothetical. Two Scandinavian objects with Iberian copper signatures postdate the mine's documented final phase, making their history unclear.