Iberian Peninsula uncovers earliest lead smelting and extensive megalithic monuments

Archaeologists at the Minferri site in Juneda, Lleida, have identified three tiny slag nodules that prove Bronze Age communities on the Iberian Peninsula were smelting lead around 2000 BCE—about 1,800 years earlier than the previously assumed Phoenician introduction. The study, led by Julia Montes‑Landa, shows the metal was processed intentionally for pure lead, indicating an indigenous metallurgical tradition.

In the neighboring region of Ourense, researchers highlight two major megalithic complexes: the Val do Salas area in Baixa Limia, where displaced dolmens and the “Casa da Moura” now form an open‑air museum, and the Serra do Leboreiro on the Portuguese border, home to one of the peninsula’s largest Neolithic necropolises. These sites, dating back over 6,000 years, illustrate a sophisticated network of stone monuments that shaped early social and ritual landscapes in north‑west Iberia.