Science published a complete work on 17 new craniums have been found in The Pit of Bones in Atapuerca, with more the 430,000 years old, with the oldest Neanderthal features.

Investigators of the Center of Mix Evolutions and Human Behavior (formed by the Complutense University of Madrid and the Institute of Salud Carlos III), of the universities located in Alcala, Zaragoza, Basque Country, Burgos, Rovira and Virgili de Tarragona,  the National Center of Investigation over the Human Evolution in Burgos, The Catalan Institute of Human Palaeoecology and Social Evolution (Tarragona), University of Adelaide (Australia), Binghamton University (SUNY, USA), Natinal Taiwan University, Berkeley Geochronology Center (USA), U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. The work, that is led by Juan Luis Arsuaga, the scientific director of the Museum of Human Evolution (Burgos), which has been published as a Research Article, a category in where works have been reserved and highly considered for magazine spread.

The article sheds light on an incredible collection over seventeen craniums in different states of conservation and a publication from twenty-one years ago where the first three craniums that were found in this deposit, back in 1993, were being showcased on Nature magazine (the equivalent to the British magazine Science). Since then investigators have worked patiently in this deposit, in which presents a challenge to excavate, to identify skull fragments that can be really small, putting craniums back together, which is a laborious effort that has yet to be completed. It is estimated that the number of individuals accumulated in this deposit are around thirty and their skeletons appear to be complete even though some of their bones are found broken and mixed around. During these years there has also been an effort to understand the geology of the deposit, which is critical to the understanding on how so many corpses accumulated there and for the collection of data.  By applying a range of new techniques that have been tested in other deposit sites found at Atapuerta, the fossils found there have been estimated to be about 430,000 years old. According to Juan Luis Arsuaga, there has never been a deposit that has provided so many craniums of an extinct human species in our history.  All of the individuals from the Pit of Bones belong to the same biological population, which allows a variation of individual examination, their sexual differences, the pattern of their development, etc. Since the late eighties, the research team claims that the population that was found at the Pit of Bones is related to the Neanderthals, which leads to the conclusion that the origin of the population is at least 430,000 years old. The fossils that belong to the Pit of Bones are the oldest known fossils with traits that resemble the Neanderthals.  A much debated question is how the cranium of the Neanderthal evolved itself? The study of the Pit confirms the theory, already advanced by other authors, that the evolutionary pattern appears to be a “modular” or “mosaic” type. The first changes occurred in the teeth and face, suggesting a masticatory specialization. Other parts of the cranium, like the braincase and the encephalon that it contains, show sighs that they were modified later on. The uniformity of the population of the Pit of Bones contrasts with the variation found when compared with all of the European fossils of the Middle Pleistocene, period from 780,000 years ago to 130,000 years ago.   Some dissimilarities may be due to the time difference between deposits, but others seem to have more to do with regional differences. It may have been possible that these populations with Neanderthal features more or less marked along with others that have an archaic appearance. It’s possible that there were replacements of some populations for others and also genetic exchanges, which has been pointed out by the mitochondrial genome that was recovered in one of the fossils at the Pit of Bones, which is not in the Neanderthal category. The authors of this job are highlighted by a complex evolutionary model. In conclusion the collection from the Pit of Bones, which will continue to grow in the following years, is increasingly important towards the study of human evolution.   The excavations in the deposit of the Sierra of Atapuerca are funded by the counselor of Culture and Tourism of the Junta de Castilla y Leon, the Atapuerca Foundation, and the investigations in different laboratories are funded by the Ministry of Finance and Competitiveness. All of the universities and investigation centers have also provided funds through material and human labor.