Human parietal bone from the middle Pleistocene discovered in the Ghost cave of the Sierra de Atapuerca

Judging by the associated archaeological and palaeontological context, these human remains can be dated back to the Middle Pleistocene. The dating of the level though geochronological methods is pending, but the remains of associated microfauna and industry suggest that we are in the presence of hominids similar to those found at the Sima de los Huesos in the Sierra de Atapuerca.

ATAPUERCA FOUNDATION

One of the most important results of the 2016 campaign at the Sierra de Atapuerca site has been the cleaning and preparation of the new archaeological site of The Ghost Cave. These works have been performed with heavy machinery after thorough geophysical prospecting work. This has succeeded in removing the debris of an old quarry that covered the sediments with fossils.

 

As the Atapuerca Foundation reports, since the objective is to start the excavation of the fill of this cave in the 2017 campaign, the Atapuerca Research Team decided to take several samples that would allow it to estimate the approximate age of the sediments of the upper levels. During the afternoon of Thursday, July 21^st, Dr. Josep Vallverdú noticed the presence of a bone fragment in these sediments. Specifically, the coordinates of this finding are X = 457,261.70, Y = 46,888,976.59, Z=1,016.70. Once the fragment was recovered, Dr. Vallverdú suspected that it could belong to a hominid.

 

On the morning of Friday, July 22^nd, several experts confirmed that this is a large fragment of human right-side parietal. Judging by the associated archaeological and palaeontological context, these human remains can be dated back to the Middle Pleistocene. The dating of the level though geochronological methods is pending, but the remains of associated microfauna and industry suggest that we are in the presence of hominids similar to those found at the Sima de los Huesos in the Sierra de Atapuerca. That is, this hominid could belong to a population predating Neanderthals.

 

This finding confirms the enormous archaeo-palaeontological wealth of the Sierra de Atapuerca site and is a boost for the Research Programme that began 38 years ago in this World Heritage Site complex.

 

Text: ATAPUERCA FOUNDATION Image: VALDIVIELSO