Archaeological site of Atapuerca
The archaeological site of Atapuerca is located in the province of Burgos in the north of Spain and is notable for its evidence of early human occupation. Bone fragments from around 800,000 years ago, found in its Gran Dolina cavern, provide the oldest known evidence of hominid settlement in Western Europe and of hominid cannibalism anywhere in the world.
It was designated a World Heritage Site in 2000.
Discovery of the site
The archaeological significance of this part of the province of Burgos became increasingly apparent in the 20th century as the result of the construction of a metre-gauge railway through the Atapuerca Mountains. Deep cuttings were made through the karst geology exposing rocks and sediments of features known as Gran Dolina, Galería Elefante and Sima de los Huesos.The subsequent excavation of 1964 under the direction of Francisco Jordá Cerdá succeeded with the discovery of anthropogenic artifacts and human fossils from a broad time range. Further excavations followed, and interdisciplinary work has been undertaken by several teams, led by Emiliano Aguirre from 1978 to 1990 and later jointly by Eudald Carbonell, José María Bermúdez de Castro and Juan Luis Arsuaga. These have confirmed the continuous human occupation of the site. In July 2020 two quartzite stones were discovered, dating to 600,000 years ago, a find which filled in a gap in the evidence for human occupation of the site over a timeline of 1,200,000 years.
Protection and access
The site was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, under the name, Archaeological Site of Atapuerca. The site is also protected at national level and at regional level.The regional designation of Espacio cultural is intended to allow sustainable tourism in the local villages. There is a Site Access Centre in Ibeas de Juarros.
There is also an Experimental Archaeology Centre in the village of Atapuerca. Finds are shown at the Museum of Human Evolution in the city of Burgos.
Excavation sites
Portalón de Cueva Mayor (1910 to present)
The combined work of archaeologists Jesús Carballo, Geoffrey Clark, José María Apellániz and the current team of Juan Luis Arsuaga accounts for the documentation of the excavation sequence of ceramic objects from all relevant sediment layers since the Neolithic.Trinchera Galería (1978 to present)
Among numerous faunal and floral fossils, a jaw fragment was found during the 1970s and a skull fragment in 1995, which both belong to Homo heidelbergensis. They date to between 600,000 and 400,000 years BP.Trinchera Dolina (1981 to present)
The Gran Dolina site is a huge cavern, which has been excavated since September 1981. Its sediments were divided into eleven stratae- TD-11: Mousterian tools found.
- Level TD-10 is presumed to have been a Homo heidelbergensis camp with tools and bison fossils.
- Level TD-8, accessible since 1994, contained remarkable carnivore fossils.
- In level TD-7, a bovine leg in anatomical position was recovered in 1994.
- TD-6 : From 1994 on, over 160 bone fragments of at least eleven hominids were found, between 850,000 and 780,000 years old, which makes them at least 250,000 years older than any other hominid yet discovered in Western Europe. More than 30% of the bones have manipulation marks that suggest cannibalism. Classification of these remains is still being debated; suggestions range from Homo erectus to Homo heidelbergensis and Homo antecessor. Some researchers, who are familiar with the stratigraphic material of Gran Dolina, argue that Homo antecessor may be the ancestor of Homo heidelbergensis, who in turn gave rise to Homo neanderthalensis. Retouched flake and core stone tools were also found.
- Level TD-5 is assumed to have been a carnivore den.
- In TD-4, four lithic pieces were found during the 1991 excavation and several remnants of Ursus dolinensis, a sparsely described bear species.
- At the lowest levels, no fossils were found.
Sima de los Huesos (1983 to present)
Sima de los Huesos accounts for the greatest number of valuable scientific discoveries and knowledge acquired with far-reaching implications. This site is located at the bottom of a deep shaft, or "chimney", accessible via the narrow corridors of the Cueva Mayor.Since 1997, the excavators have located more than 5,500 human skeletal remains deposited during the Middle Pleistocene period, at least 350,000 years old, which represent 28 individuals of Homo heidelbergensis. Associated finds include Ursus deningeri fossils and a hand axe called Excalibur. It has received a surprisingly high degree of attention, and a number of experts support the hypothesis that this particular Acheulean tool made of red quartzite seems to have served as a ritual offering, most likely for a funeral. The idea sparked a renewal of the disputed evolutionary progress and the stages of human cognitive, intellectual and conceptual development. Ninety percent of the known Homo heidelbergensis fossil record have been obtained at the site. The fossil bone pit includes:
- The complete cranium, Skull 5, nicknamed Miguelón, the fragmented cranial remains of Skull 4, nicknamed Agamenón and Skull 6, nicknamed Rui.
- A complete pelvis, humorously nicknamed Elvis
- Mandibles, teeth, a lot of postcranial bones
- Remains of a child with craniosynostosis were found and dated to 530,000 BP. The find was considered to provide evidence for caring of individuals with disabilities in early human populations.
- Mitochondrial DNA from a 400,000 year old femur has been sequenced, the oldest hominin mtDNA recovered as of 2013. The mtDNA was found to be closer to the mtDNA of Denisova hominins than to the mtDNA of Neanderthals.
- In 2016, nuclear DNA analysis results determined the Sima hominins to be Neanderthals and not Denisova hominins, and the divergence between Neanderthals and Denisovans predates 430,000 years.
- In 2019, analysis of Neanderthal teeth found at Sima de los Huesos indicates that modern humans and Neanderthals separated from a common ancestor more than 800,000 years ago.
- In 2020, analysis of tooth enamel of hominids found at the sites of Sima del Elefante, Gran Dolina-TD6 and Sima de los Huesos concluded that Atapuerca hominids grew faster than modern humans.