Editor's note

No one knows what the UK’s future trading arrangements with the EU will be. But these trading patterns have existed for a very long time indeed. New research into an incredibly productive copper mine 3,600 years ago reveals that Bronze Age trade between Britain and Europe was much more widespread than previously thought – with Welsh metal reaching as far afield as Germany and Sweden.

The mine in question is Great Orme, which until recently was thought to be so big because of seasonal working over 1,000 years or so. But by analysing ore samples in the mine and comparing the results with analysis of bronze tool fragments, researchers have discovered that its distinctive metal dominated Britain’s copper supply for a brief, but dazzling, 200-year period – during which an astonishing half a million metal objects were produced.

You may have heard that modern humans all originated in Botswana – but don’t be so sure. There’s good reason to believe that our species doesn’t have a single origin at all. And are you sick of ghouls and ghosts yet? Here’s an antidote – vampire bats are much more friendly and social than you might think.

Josephine Lethbridge

Interdisciplinary Editor

Top stories

© Great Orme Mines Ltd

Bronze Age discovery reveals surprising extent of Britain’s trade with Europe 3,600 years ago

Alan Williams, University of Liverpool

New research reveals remarkable evidence of a copper-mining bonanza in Wales that was so productive the metal reached France, Germany, Denmark and Sweden.

A study claims the first humans lived in a wetland around what is now northern Botswana. Prill/Shutterstock

Botswana is humanity’s ancestral home, claims major study – well, actually …

Isabelle Catherine Winder, Bangor University

It's likely our species doesn't actually have a single origin.

Looks can be deceiving… Todd Cravens/Unsplash

Vampire bats aren’t the monsters we thought they were

Jan Hoole, Keele University

Vampire bats form social bonds similar to human friendships – and they're good friends to those in need.

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