Thearchaeological site of Atapuerca is located in theprovince of Burgos in the north ofSpain and is notable for its evidence of early human occupation. Bone fragments from around 800,000 years ago, found in itsGran Dolina cavern, provide the oldest known evidence ofhominid settlement inWestern Europe and of hominidcannibalism anywhere in the world.[1]
The archaeological significance of this part of theprovince of Burgos became increasingly apparent in the 20th century as the result of the construction of ametre-gauge railway (now disused) through theAtapuerca Mountains. Deepcuttings were made through thekarst geology exposing rocks and sediments of features known asGran Dolina,Galería Elefante andSima 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 (early humans, hunter-gatherer groups,Bronze Age occupants). Further excavations followed, and interdisciplinary work has been undertaken by several teams, led byEmiliano Aguirre from 1978 to 1990 and later jointly byEudald Carbonell,José María Bermúdez de Castro andJuan Luis Arsuaga. These have confirmed the continuous human occupation of the site. In July 2020 twoquartzite stones were discovered, dating to 600,000 years ago,[2] a find which filled in a gap in the evidence for human occupation of the site over a timeline of 1,200,000 years.[3]
The site was designated aUNESCOWorld Heritage Site, under the name,Archaeological Site of Atapuerca.[4][5] The site is also protected at national level (as aZona Arqueológica, a category ofBien de Interés Cultural on the heritage register) and at regional level (Castile and León has designated the Sierra de Atapuerca anEspacio cultural).
Location of the excavation sites in the railway cutting. Identifiable from the protective roofs are: (1) Entrance to the cutting; (2) Sima del Elefante; (3) Galería; (4) Gran Dolina
The regional designation ofEspacio cultural is intended to allowsustainable tourism in the local villages.[6] There is a Site Access Centre (CAYAC) inIbeas de Juarros.[7]There is also an Experimental Archaeology Centre (CAREX) in the village ofAtapuerca. Finds are shown at theMuseum of Human Evolution in the city ofBurgos.
The combined work ofarchaeologists Jesús Carballo (1910 to 1911), Geoffrey Clark (1971), José María Apellániz (1973 to 1983) and the current team ofJuan Luis Arsuaga accounts for the documentation of the excavation sequence of ceramic objects from all relevant sediment layers since theNeolithic.
Among numerousfaunal andfloral fossils, ajaw fragment was found during the 1970s and a skull fragment in 1995, which both belong toHomo heidelbergensis. They date to between 600,000 and 400,000 years BP.
TheGran 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)
Level TD-8, accessible since 1994, contained remarkablecarnivore fossils.
In level TD-7, abovine leg in anatomical position was recovered in 1994.
TD-6 (Aurora stratum): From 1994 on, over 160 bone fragments of at least elevenhominids 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 inWestern Europe. More than 30% of the bones have manipulation marks that suggestcannibalism.[8] Classification of these remains is still being debated; suggestions range fromHomo erectus toHomo heidelbergensis andHomo antecessor. Some researchers, who are familiar with the stratigraphic material of Gran Dolina, argue thatHomo antecessor may be the ancestor ofHomo heidelbergensis, who in turn gave rise toHomo 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.[8] 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.[9] 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.[10]
Level TD-5 is assumed to have been a carnivore den.
In TD-4 (dated to 780,000 BP), fourlithic pieces were found during the 1991 excavation and several remnants ofUrsus dolinensis, a sparsely described bear species.
At the lowest levels (TD-1 and TD-2), no fossils were found.
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 theCueva Mayor.[11]
Since 1997, the excavators have located more than 5,500 human skeletal remains deposited during the MiddlePleistocene period, at least 350,000 years old, which represent 28 individuals ofHomo heidelbergensis (also classified as earlyNeanderthals).[12][13][14][15] Associated finds includeUrsus deningeri fossils and ahand axe calledExcalibur. It has received a surprisingly high degree of attention, and a number of experts support the hypothesis that this particularAcheulean tool made of redquartzite 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.[16] Ninety percent of the knownHomo heidelbergensis fossil record have been obtained at the site. The fossil bone pit includes:
The complete cranium,Skull 5, nicknamedMiguelón, the fragmented cranial remains ofSkull 4, nicknamedAgamenón andSkull 6, nicknamedRui (a reference to the medieval military leaderEl Cid).
A completepelvis (Pelvis 1), humorously nicknamedElvis
Mandibles, teeth, a lot of postcranial bones (femora, hand and foot bones,vertebrae, ribs, etc.)
Remains of a child withcraniosynostosis were found and dated to 530,000BP. The find was considered to provide evidence for caring of individuals with disabilities in early human populations.[17]
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from a 400,000 year oldfemur has been sequenced, the oldest hominin mtDNA recovered as of 2013. The mtDNA was found to be closer to the mtDNA ofDenisova hominins than to the mtDNA of Neanderthals.[18]
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.[15][13]
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.[19]
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.[20]
Some excavators have stated that the concentration of bones in the pit allows the suggestion of a traditionalburial 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.
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 fabricatedtools more than one million years ago", which may have been the earliest among Western European hominids. The first discovery in June 2007 was a tooth,[21] followed by a fragment of a 1.2 million-year-old jawbone (mandible) and aproximal phalanx in 2008.[22][23] In July 2022, archaeologists announced the discovery of a 1.4 million-year-old jawbone (maxilla) included a tooth of ahominid. The paleoanthropoligistEudald Carbonell, who serves as co-director of the excavations at the Archaeological Site of Atapuerca, hypothesizes that the aforementioned jawbone belongs to a specimen ofHomo erectus.[24] Other researchers suggest it may have come fromHomo antecessor, an early species of human. It located about two meters deeper in the soil than the fossils found in 2008.[25][26] Over the next two years, an interdisciplinary team worked on studying and restoring the fossil. The fossil has been dated to between 1.4 and 1.1 million years ago. Based on the available evidence, it has been proposed to assign the new human remains toHomo aff. erectus, that is, a species that is provisionally proposed as new, although closely related toHomo Erectus. This fossil represents the oldest human face fromWestern Europe identified to date.[27][28]
^abCarbonell, Eudald; Cáceres, Isabel; Lozano, Marina; Saladié, Palmira; Rosell, Jordi; Lorenzo, Carlos; Vallverdú, Josep; Huguet, Rosa; Canals, Antoni; Bermúdez de Castro, José Marı́a (2010). "Cultural Cannibalism as a Paleoeconomic System in the European Lower Pleistocene".Current Anthropology.51 (4):543–545.doi:10.1086/653807.JSTOR10.1086/653807.
