Atapuerca Mountains

Atapuerca Mountains
Sierra de Atapuerca
Atapuerca Mountains panorama
Atapuerca Mountains panorama
Atapuerca Mountains in Spain
Atapuerca Mountains in Spain
Location in Spain
Atapuerca Mountains in Spain
Atapuerca Mountains in Spain
Atapuerca Mountains (Castile and León)
Atapuerca Mountains in Spain
Atapuerca Mountains in Spain
Atapuerca Mountains (Spain)
Locationnear Atapuerca, Ibeas de Juarros
RegionBurgos, Castile and León
Coordinates42°22′0″N 3°31′20″W / 42.36667°N 3.52222°W / 42.36667; -3.52222
History
PeriodsPaleolithic
Associated withHomo antecessor, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo neanderthalensis
Site notes
Excavation datessince 1964
ArchaeologistsFrancisco Jordá Cerdá
Websitehttp://www.atapuerca.org/
Official nameArchaeological Site of Atapuerca
CriteriaCultural: (iii)(v)
Reference989
Inscription2000 (24th Session)
Area284.119 ha (702.07 acres)

The Atapuerca Mountains (Spanish: Sierra de Atapuerca) is a karstic hill formation near the village of Atapuerca in the province of Burgos (autonomous community of Castile and Leon), northern Spain.

In a still ongoing excavation campaign, rich fossil deposits and stone tool assemblages have been discovered which are attributed to the earliest known hominin residents in Western Europe.[1] This "exceptional reserve of data" has been deposited during extensive Lower Paleolithic presence, as the Atapuerca Mountains served as the preferred occupation site of Homo erectus, Homo antecessor, Homo heidelbergensis and Homo neanderthalensis[2] communities. The earliest specimen so far unearthed and reliably dated confirm an age between 1.2 million and 630,000 years.

The Archaeological site of Atapuerca is a World Heritage Site. Some finds are exhibited in the nearby Museum of Human Evolution, in Burgos.

  1. ^ "Homo heidelbergensis: Evolutionary Tree information". Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  2. ^ Callaway, Ewen (2016). "Oldest ancient-human DNA details dawn of Neanderthals". Nature. 531 (7594): 286. Bibcode:2016Natur.531..296C. doi:10.1038/531286a. PMID 26983523. S2CID 4459329.