Archaeological site of Atapuerca
UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
---|---|
Official name | Archaeological Site of Atapuerca |
Location | Atapuerca, Burgos |
Part of | Atapuerca Mountains |
Criteria | Cultural |
Reference | 989 |
Inscription | 2000 (24th Session) |
Coordinates | 42°21′09″N 3°31′06″W / 42.35250°N 3.51833°W |
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.[1]
The archaeo-palaeontological records have also confirmed a continuous settlement from the
It was designated a World Heritage Site in 2000.
Discovery of the site
The archaeological significance of this part of the
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 (early humans, hunter-gatherer groups, Bronze Age occupants). 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,[5] a find which filled in a gap in the evidence for human occupation of the site over a timeline of 1,200,000 years.[6]
In addition, the archaeo-palaeontological records in Sierra de Atapuerca, inside the caves and in the open-air sites, have confirmed a continuous settlement from the Lower Pleistocene (Lower Paleolithic) to the Holocene (Bronze Age), with several species of hominids (
Protection and access
The site was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, under the name, Archaeological Site of Atapuerca.[10][11] The site is also protected at national level (as a Zona Arqueológica, a category of Bien de Interés Cultural on the heritage register) and at regional level (Castile and León has designated the Sierra de Atapuerca an Espacio cultural).
The regional designation of Espacio cultural is intended to allow sustainable tourism in the local villages.[12] There is a Site Access Centre (CAYAC) in Ibeas de Juarros.[13] There is also an Experimental Archaeology Centre (CAREX) 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
Trinchera Galería (1978 to present)
Among numerous
Trinchera Dolina (1981 to present)
The Gran Dolina (also Trinchera Dolina, English: Dolina trench) site is a huge cavern, which has been excavated since September 1981. Its sediments were divided into eleven stratae (TD-1 to TD-11)
- 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 bovineleg in anatomical position was recovered in 1994.
- TD-6 (Aurora stratum): 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.[14] 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.
- The hominid remains show unmistakable signs of having been butchered and consumed in the same way as animals whose bones were also found in this stratum.[1] All bones belonged to young individuals, ranging from infancy to late teenhood.[14] A study of this case considers it an instance of "nutritional" cannibalism, where individuals belonging to hostile or unrelated groups were hunted, killed, and eaten much like animals. Based on the placement and processing of human and animal remains, the authors conclude that cannibalism was likely a "repetitive behavior over time as part of a culinary tradition", not caused by starvation or other exceptional circumstances.[15] They suggest that young individuals (more than half of which were children under ten) were targeted because they "posed a lower risk for hunters" and because this was an effective means for limiting the growth of competing groups.[16]
- Level TD-5 is assumed to have been a carnivore den.
- In TD-4 (dated to 780,000 BP), four lithic pieces were found during the 1991 excavation and several remnants of Ursus dolinensis, a sparsely described bear species.
- At the lowest levels (TD-1 and TD-2), no fossils were found.
Sima de los Huesos (1983 to present)
Sima de los Huesos (Pit of Bones) 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 13 m (43 ft) deep shaft, or "chimney", accessible via the narrow corridors of the Cueva Mayor.[17]
Since 1997, the excavators have located more than 5,500 human skeletal remains deposited during the Middle
- The complete cranium, Skull 5, nicknamed Miguelón, the fragmented cranial remains of Skull 4, nicknamed Agamenón and Skull 6, nicknamed Rui (a reference to the medieval military leader El Cid).
- A complete pelvis (Pelvis 1), humorously nicknamed Elvis
- Mandibles, teeth, a lot of postcranial bones (femora, hand and foot bones, vertebrae, ribs, etc.)
- 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.[23]
- Denisova hominins than to the mtDNA of Neanderthals.[24]
- 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.[21][19]
- 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.[25]
- 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.[26]
Some excavators have stated that the concentration of bones in the pit allows the suggestion of a traditional burial culture among the cave's inhabitants. A competing theory cites the lack of small bones in the assemblage and suggests that the fossils were washed into the pit by non-human agents.
Sima del Elefante (1996 to present)
According to José María Bermúdez de Castro, co-director of research at Atapuerca, the Sima del Elefante findings support "anatomical evidence of the hominids that fabricated
Cueva del Mirador (1999 to present)
This site provides information on the earliest local farmers and herders of the late Neolithic and Bronze Age.
Orchids Valley (2000 to 2001) and Hundidero (2004 to 2005)
Stone tools of the Upper Paleolithic have been extracted from this locality.
Cueva fantasma (2017 to present)
Homo neanderthalensis craneal fossil (no context) and lithic tools at located here.
Galería de las estatuas (2017 to present)
Mousterian tools, Homo neanderthalensis bones, and DNA remains.
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-226-74269-4. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
- ^ a b Marcos Saiz (2006), pp. 225–270.
- ^ a b Marcos Saiz (2016), pp. 686–696.
- ^ a b Marcos Saiz & Díez (2017), pp. 45–67.
- Prisa. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- ^ G.G.U. (3 July 2020). "Atapuerca completa su secuencia evolutiva". Diario de Burgos (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- ISBN 9788496606289.
- ISBN 9781407315195.
- .
- ^ "Archaeological Site of Atapuerca – UNESCO World Heritage Centre". Whc.unesco.org. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
- ^ "Landforms And Geomorphological Processes In The Duero Basin. Pleistocene Geoarcheology Of Ambrona And Atapuerca Sites" (PDF). Geomorfologia.es. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 12, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
- ^ "MEMORIA del Espacio Cultural "Sierra de Atapuerca"" (PDF). Jcyl.es. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
- ^ "Visiting the Site Access Centre (CAYAC)". Atapuerca Foundation.
- ^ JSTOR 10.1086/653807.
- ^ Carbonell et al. 2010, pp. 539–540, 547.
- ^ Carbonell et al. 2010, p. 548.
- ^ "Prehistoric skull with puncture wounds could be world's first murder mystery". Msn.com. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
- ISBN 978-0-306-81449-5.
- ^ S2CID 4467094.
- PMID 31106274.
- ^ S2CID 4459329.
- ^ "Excalibur, the rock that may mark a new dawn for man". The Guardian. January 9, 2003. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
- PMID 19332773.
- PMID 24305130.
- PMID 31106274.
- PMID 32170098.
- ^ "'First west Europe tooth' found". BBC News. 2007-06-30. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
- .
- S2CID 22346193.
- ^ "Atapuerca completa el puzle con el "Homo erectus": "Es seguro, no hay dudas"". www.larazon.es (in Spanish). 2023-01-29. Retrieved 2023-03-06.
- ^ Jennifer Nalewicki (2022-07-17). "1.4 million-year-old jawbone may belong to oldest known human relative in Europe". livescience.com. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
- ^ Domínguez, Nuño (2022-07-08). "Hallada en Atapuerca la cara del humano más antiguo de Europa". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-08-04.