The Ministry of Defence's natural areas

A Mammoth in Burgos

Death in the sand.Gladiators of Cordoba

Evolution:  Walking towards a joint future

Animalia. Fauna in Iron

Prototypes. The First Mac

A Site With History, the History of a Site

Pail, Horn or Drinking Horn

STANDING UP. UPRIGHT POSTURE IN HUMAN EVOLUTION

'Tenerse en pie. La postura erguida en la evolución humana' (Standing up. Upright posture in human evolution) is based on the radical change in the structure of the foot that led to the acquisition of the bipedal posture. The central pillar around which this exhibition is articulated is a collection of human fossils from the Burgos Museum of the Sierra de Atapuerca Sites, specifically from level TD6 of the Gran Dolina and the Sima de los Huesos: different elements of the pelvic bone of the skeleton of three individuals (both feet of one of them are shown).

The exhibition explains how the acquisition of the bipedal posture, one of our main signs of identity, meant a radical change in the structure of the foot, which no longer resembles a hand as in our relatives, the great apes. A section of the exhibition is dedicated to human evolution to show the particular structure of the human feet that allow humans to walk upright efficiently, and the changes that took place through different species.

You can also see the different ways vertebrates use their limbs to move in water, on land, and in the air. Thus, based on pieces from the Geominero Museum in Madrid, it shows how the general pattern of this anatomical region was established with the appearance of tetrapods almost four hundred million years ago, at the end of the Paleozoic. The foot has been converted into a work of art through pictorial and sculptural representations from all periods, which have their place in the exhibition through a selection of works. 

'ETERNAL CATHEDRAL; AS THEY SAW IT. AS THEY SEE IT'. 140 WORKS THAT OFFER A RETROSPECTIVE OF THE BURGOS CATHEDRAL

The exhibition, carried out by the VIII Centenari de la Catedral Burgos 2021 Foundation with the collaboration of the MEH and other institutions, is divided into eight areas, which chronologically review the image of the Seo. Thus, 'The first images of the temple', 'Spanish Romanticism', 'European Romanticism and the Cathedral', 'The image of the Cathedral in historiographical works', 'The Cathedral and the arts of the first third of the 20th century', 'Realism in the second half of the 20th century and the Cathedral', 'The Cathedral and poster design' and 'Modernity and the Cathedral'.

The exhibition at the MEH brings together 140 works belonging to the museum that offer a retrospective of the different visions of Burgos Cathedral from the 16th century to the end of the 20th century. It includes drawings, engravings, watercolours, oil paintings, posters and photographs by Spanish and European artists, who have reflected some of the most iconic views of the Burgos temple in their works. In addition to a large group of private lenders, the contributions of institutions such as the Sorolla Museum, the Burgos Municipal Archive, the Cajacírculo Foundation, the Burgos Museum and the Burgos Provincial Council are noted.

The Museum of Human Evolution will conduct free guided tours of the exhibition every day the Museum is open at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. The capacity of the groups will be in accordance with the regulations. Prior reservation is required at reservas@museoevolucionhumana.com, +34 947 42 10 00 or at the MEH reception. In addition, the Museum will offer online tours from Tuesday, May 18, at the following times: 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. The duration of this tour will be 25 minutes.

As they see it

For its part, the second part of this exhibition 'This is how they see it' can be visited at the Forum Evolución. This exhibition is dedicated to the contemporary vision of Burgos Cathedral, 'As they see it'. This space houses 114 works by living painters, sculptors and photographers from Burgos, who have captured their personal vision of the temple, using various techniques, materials and formats. More than half of the works have been made expressly for this exhibition.

ECHOES: SOUND LANDSCAPES OF HUMAN EVOLUTION

The Museum's Pieza Única Room houses this exhibition that invites visitors to experience a new sensory experience and discover the sounds that have surrounded human evolution over time from four million years ago to the present. The sensory journey begins four million years ago with the characteristic sounds of the African tropical forest where the great apes lived, whose echoes intermingle with others from lesser-known species. Then, half a million years later, the visitor will be able to listen to the sounds of the African savannah, where australopithecines occupied vast, sunny spaces alongside African fauna.   Likewise, in the exhibition, million-year old echoes of the men who lived through the changing seasons of Eurasia, where the Homo antecessor lived, can be heard mixing with bison and aurochs. From that time, the last glaciation and the first sounds that accompanied the Neolithic man in the Middle East are explored, ending with current-day voices and music.   At the end of the exhibition, the visitor will be able to hear traditional sounds of the Bushmen, Masai dances, Amazonian Indians or the inhabitants of Papua-New Guinea; a whole melting pot of populations and races that still live outside the bounds of time, in addition to the sounds of technology that has changed our way of life such as the sound of the steam engine, radio interference, static electricity or traffic. In short, a soundtrack that will serve to enhance the value of hearing and re-educate it.

GONE WITH THE WIND. THE SIXTH EXTINCTION

The exhibition narrates the staggered extinction of animal species over the last 10,000 years through excellent fossil specimens, models, naturalized animals and extraordinary murals, in an expository, thought-provoking discourse on the current situation and how human beings manage their ecosystem.    The exhibition begins by showing some of the species of glacial megafauna (large mammals) that disappeared when the ice began to melt 11,000 years ago.  In total, it features some thirty fossils of extinct animals: original pieces as significant as a magnificent mammoth jaw from the El Padul peat bog in Granada -the furthest to the south that have been found, aged 35,000 years-, a glyptodont breastplate (key mammal for the formulation of the theory of evolution by Darwin), a megatherium tail (there are only 5 examples of these tails in Europe), one of the largest land mammals that has ever existed and a macrauchenia leg (large herbivore ) from the Botet collection of the Science Museum of Valencia or an irreplaceable piece, the naturalized marsupial wolf (marsupial carnivore), from the Museum of Natural Sciences of Madrid.   The last of the extinct animals featured in the exhibition is the Tasmanian thylacine or wolf (tiger), which could still be seen in captivity in 1936. This magnificent marsupial carnivore lived in Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania, where its disappearance is related to human persecution.   Three magnificent murals have been created for the exhibition, which, made by the Mexican large-format paleo-artist Sergio de la Rosa, will allow visitors to have the opportunity to see these animals full of life.   This exhibition also allows the visitor to reflect on our responsibility for changes to the ecosystem, the disappearance of species and the future of the biosphere. There are currently 213 mammals, 213 birds, 168 reptiles, 525 amphibians, and 423 fish critically endangered.

LIMIT

29 works to reflect on the limits that exist in society and those that we self-impose. The exhibition raises these questions through various artistic disciplines such as drawing, painting, sculpture, artistic and audiovisual installations and 'happenings' with music, dance, painting, photography and fashion. An artistic and social project carried out by the Berbiquí Association together with the Burgos School of Art and Design that is included in the Social Responsibility section of the MEH. 

AFGHANISTAN. WOMEN

The photographic exhibition 'Afganistán. Mujeres' (Afghanistan. Women), made by photographers and journalists Gervasio Sánchez and Mónica Bernabé, aims to portray, through image and spoken word, the reality of Afghan women. The exhibition uses 121 large images to show the huge number of cases of abuse and systematic violations of the rights of women in Afghanistan, always subjugated to the figure of man.   It is the result of a long production process, since the first photos were taken in 2009 and the last in 2014. In total, it took almost six years preparing the project and more than a dozen long-term trips to Afghanistan by the photographer Gervasio Sánchez. The author of the texts is the journalist Mònica Bernabé.    The exhibition is divided into six blocks: Forced and child marriage; flight and drug addiction; suicide; legal advances and reality; women against the current and consequences of impunity and war.

THE “SIMA DE LOS OSOS”

This exhibition shows a bear skull over 400,000 years old and a magnificent sculpture of an adult individual of the same species, the ancestor of cave bears. Both pieces are accompanied by an audiovisual, made by Javier Trueba, which narrates the long journey travelled for these fossil remains to reach us.

The Sima de los Huesos (Pit of Bones) is, above all, the Sima de los Osos (Pit of Bears), since over time many bears that hibernated in the Cueva Mayor de Atapuerca fell into it. Thanks to the abundance of fossils of all parts of the skeleton, it has been possible to discover and establish the distinctive features of the species 'Ursus deningeri'. 

The room also shows an original sculpture of a specimen standing on its hind legs, of great artistic appeal, made by Sonia Cabello, professor of sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Complutense University of Madrid and which has been conceived with impeccable rigour based on the advice of doctors Nuria García and Elena Santos.

Through an audiovisual made by Javier Trueba, visitors will also be able to accompany the researchers on the way to the Sima de los Huesos and reflect, in their surroundings, on the remains left by the bears -claws, beds-, as well as the excavation process and laboratory work to clean and stabilize the fossils; in short, everything that has made it possible for the skull to have arrived in magnificent condition. 

"Mío click, el campeador"

10 metre long model that recreates the world of El Cid Campeador through Playmobil figures. 

The common thread of the exhibition is the Cantar, an account of the deeds of Don Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, from which some of the most important and significant passages have been reproduced, such as The Jura de Santa Gadea, the Camino del Destierro, the first Algaradas against the Moors and finally the epic defence of Valencia against the powerful Almogávare army. 

In collaboration with Aesclick.

DOORS

The largest artistic exhibition held in Spain on the causes of poverty reflects on the economic crisis and inequality in the world.

Throughout the exhibition, the public will go through various doors to experience, through videos, directional sounds, signs and posters, an exploration of the life we lead and how it influences global dynamics. Each of these doors leads to an unpredictable situation, thus inviting the visitor to delve into the causes of poverty and inequality through their day-to-day environment. The exhibition is a call for collective and individual change to achieve human, equitable and sustainable development.

For the first time, art and PR professionals, NGOs and public institutions have come together to create an informative project. The exhibition has been organised by Plataforma 2015 y más, a national network of eleven international cooperation NGOs, in collaboration with the Development NGO Coordinator of Castilla y León and has the support of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID), the Regional Government of Castilla y León and the Museum of Human Evolution itself. 

UNPICKING VIOLENCE. CREATING DIGNITIES

Curated and coordinated by Sara Tapia, doctor in psychology and professor at the University of Burgos, various artists and researchers have collaborated on the project. The exhibition consists of works by two artists, Sara Tapia and Verónica Alcacer, and uses art as a tool to raise awareness of violence against women and its dimensions, as well as to encourage dialogue and promote a kinder world.

The purpose of this project is to use art to restore to women the dignity they deserve for the simple fact of having been born, emphasizing their emancipatory potential and making violence visible and identifiable.

Sara Tapia has created two visual poems that put a beginning and an end to the exhibition. The first of them is a graphic installation that reflects the curator's declaration of intent, hoping for a more harmonious world based on the enjoyment of freedom and the eradication of violence. The second visual poem, entitled 'Soy' (I am), is an installation that highlights the importance of affirming our being using the metaphor of a spider's web. Also, the map of fear in Burgos and 'Quién Soy. Autorretrato' (Who I am. Self-Portrait) invite the visitor to reflect on the consequence of violence against women.

In turn, Verónica Alcacer has made seven drawings in silver belonging to the series 'Cuerpos libres' (Free Bodies), making a particular journey that shows different bodies walking through the waters of the sea, where women feel free and allow their nature to show. In addition, this artist exhibits her work 'Desfragmentación' (Defragmentation): a cloak formed by the union of fragments of cloth donated by female victims of gender-based violence. 

Finally, within the space 'Otros territorios' (Other territories), the Cuban artistic and sociocultural project 'Entre hilos, alas y pinceles' (Between threads, wings and brushes), devised by Yudit Vidal Faife, is presented. 

Within the framework of this project there will be several special tours, awareness-raising meetings for adults and children and the documentary 'La Mujer y el Agua' (Woman and Water) will be screened, which, directed by Nocem Collado, tells four stories that draw a parallel between the cycles of water and the cycles of life. 

ERASMUS EXPERIENCES IN ARTS EDUCATION IN CASTILLA Y LEÓN

The exhibition brings together the experience of students and teachers of Arts Education in the Autonomous Community in 25 photographs. It is a project from the Burgos School of Art and Design and CRBC and other institutions that provide Higher Arts Education in Castilla y León. 

The Burgos School of Art and Design has been involved continuously since 2007 with different projects within this Erasmus programme. The institutions that provide Higher Arts Education in Castilla y León, as well as the ARTECYL consortium, have agreed to carry out a joint initiative that provides greater visibility and relevance to international programmes and the work that is being carried out.

LINE AND FIGURE

The exhibition 'Línea y figura' (Line and figure) by the artist Julia San Millán pays homage to the female figure. Various disciplines such as photography, collage or painting are used by the artist from Burgos in an exhibition that shows 23 pieces that make up an artistic journey through the figure of woman that is both a symbolic and visual experience.

Figures in red, barely detailed but undoubtedly feminine, are images that invert the role traditionally played by women in art. It goes from being a passive, beautiful element that responds to established ideals, to being an independent and active image maintaining all its beauty and sensuality in an exercise of exquisite skill. An aesthetic that evokes Keith Haring, Basquiat or Matisse; a black line closes, defines, outlines and gives movement to the protagonists of an imposing red.

In this exhibition, Julia San Millán has experimented and developed her previous works based on the female figure, which in this exhibition, making use of her leading role, frees herself from any standard, presenting herself as an independent and absolutely free entity.

MATERIALS. A STORY ABOUT HUMAN EVOLUTION AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES

MEH´s exhibition 'Materiales. Una Historia Sobre La Evolución Humana y Los Avances Tecnológicos' (Materials. A story about human evolution and technological advances), held with the University of Burgos in collaboration with the Burgos Chamber of Commerce and the FECYT (Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology), is divided into eight areas: wood, stone, metals, textiles, glass, paper, plastics and nanomaterials. Nearly 100 pieces, raw materials, tools, machines and documents explain the main aspects of these materials and their use throughout history. The collection notably includes several pieces related to the 19th-century Villafría-Monterrubio mining railway; 19th-century tools for making stained glass windows; a weaving machine from 1910, the first tire made in Burgos, a collection of samples of nanomaterials and the 11th-century codex 'Brevarium et Missale Mozarabicum', the first paper codex in the Iberian Peninsula.

The exhibition is a recognition by the Museum of the role that the business and industrial fabric of Burgos has played in the research, management and transformation of these materials and in improving the lives of citizens. Seventeen companies, entrepreneurs and institutions from the city are taking part in the display by donating parts, materials, tools and documents. They are the following: Gonvarri Industries, Grupo Antolín, Fabril Sedera, Verallia, Bridgestone, Kronospan, Enrique Barrio, Inmobiliaria Rio Vena; the collectors Julián Ochoa, Óscar Melgosa, Lorenza García, Fidel Orden, Julia García, Luis Santos and Marino Ayala, as well as the Santo Domingo de Silos Monastery and the University of Burgos.

In addition, the Museum of Human Evolution itself provides different pieces for the exhibition. They are accompanied by nine projections that explain the history of the materials over time and their relationship with human beings.

'THE MYSTERIOUS BUTTERFLIES OF THE SOUL. D. SANTIAGO RAMÓN Y CAJAL’

With the exhibition 'Las misteriosas Mariposas del Alma. D. Santiago Ramón y Cajal' (The Mysterious Butterflies of the Soul. D. Santiago Ramón y Cajal) we want to pay tribute to D. Santiago Ramón y Cajal, who has his own area in the permanent exhibition of the Museum, highlighting his many facets as a researcher and teacher, but also as artistic and humanist. It revolves around a selection of extraordinarily high-quality facsimiles of drawings by the Spanish Nobel Prize winner from the Cajal Institute (Higher Council for Scientific Research) with which visitors can enjoy true works of art but, above all, the origin of modern neuroscience.

In the exhibition you can see facsimiles of the Nobel title and medal, as well as the facsimile of the Von Helmholtz medal. Cajal said that "Good drawings, like good microscopic preparation, are pieces of reality, scientific documents that retain their value indefinitely and whose revision will always be profitable, whatever the interpretations they have given rise to". The complex structure of the neural network required drawings that combined precision with synthesis that the photographic techniques of the time could not provide. His tenacity and passion largely contributed to Spanish science.

The facsimiles of drawings are presented together with other pieces, such as some publications by Cajal and two microscopes donated by the Museum of Public Health and Hygiene of the Carlos III Health Institute: a Zeiss Stativ and a Reichert, both models of great importance in the work of the Nobel Prize winner.

HUMAN ORIGIN

The exhibition 'Origen Humano' (Human Origin) by the artist Óscar Martín de Burgos features 27 bronze, aluminium and steel sculptures whose primitive, symbolic and timeless nature connects us with our distant past. These sculptural pieces can be enjoyed free of charge during the month of August on the different floors of the Museum's permanent exhibition.

This MEH exhibition covers the best of the artist's sculptural work, who has literally immersed his work in Prehistory, adapting it to the exhibition context of the Museum's permanent exhibition. Óscar Martín de Burgos' sculptural reflection takes as its starting point the findings of the Sierra de Atapuerca, which have always been featured in his work, and the permanent collection of the Museum, linking them with his spiritual, primitive and cosmic vision of art. Thus, using matter, words, rhythm and meditation, this exhibition generates meeting points between cultures, where humans can join together to find "the life that they are part of".

The works exhibited at the MEH are the following: 'Neolith', 'Small Neolith', 'Ant', the 'Chinese Idiograms' Series: 'Niu', 'Goat' and 'Dragon,' 'Shivaratri', 'I am you', 'Protector', 'Uterus', 'Microuterus', 'Infinity', 'Pilgrim', 'Astragalus', 'VIII Centenary Cathedral of Burgos. Infinite Cathedral', 'Cid Campeador' (two versions), the sculpture 'City of Burgos Award', 'Cruce de Vacío' (three versions), 'Atapuerquense', 'Cueva del silex', 'VII El Carro (sculpture based on the 'Elvis' pelvis), 'Dancer', 'Dorje' and 'San Juan de Ortega'.

'THE DIET. PAST. PRESENT AND FUTURE'

This exhibition has the novelty of recreating an indoor kitchen, thanks to the collaboration of Ferroplás, which will allow visitors to experience the importance that food has had and still has on our evolutionary journey.  These workshops and meetings will be held with the best chefs and sommeliers in Burgos, who will show the Museum's social media followers the qualities of the best gastronomy and the importance of basic foods such as bread, olive oil, vegetables or water. The MEH wants to promote the benefits of eating a healthy diet.

The exhibition also explains how many of our adaptive successes can be attributed to the metabolic and physiological changes that human evolution has been brought about, but also to our skills in providing, preparing and consuming food.

To carry out this exhibition, the contents of the exhibition 'La Dieta que nos hizo humanos' (The Diet that made us human) have been recovered, which was the first major exhibition produced by the MEH in 2011. The exhibition has three different areas: An introductory area where the visitor can reflect on the importance of diet in our evolution; a second area where you can find out what scientific disciplines are involved in the study of diet and a third area that explains how our diet has evolved from prehistory to the 21st century.

NAMING HUMANS

The Museum of Human Evolution proposes a visual adventure with an exhibition that deals with the creative writing work carried out by the artist Alejandro Martínez about the names of people. It is a project of visual poetry, writing and graphic design that unfolds like a book on the wall with more than 60 names that constitute a generator of literary and graphic imagination.

This visual exhibition is located in the side hallway on the -1 floor of the Museum and is accompanied by sketches, notebooks and work notes from the almost four years over which this unique project was developed. In total, you can see about four hundred and fifty images, more than enough to understand what this graphic adventure and language game was; a completely absorbing creative exercise.

Visitors will also find themselves immersed in typographical games and orchestrations, intense relationships with language and images, a chance to see their creative perception stimulated, since this museum project gives a nod to pedagogy, to love and to pure wit, to word games, to suggestions of graphic whimsy, good humour and good wishes; sometimes to nostalgia or to small great unanswered thoughts.

AIDA. THE EGYPT OF DREAMS

The exhibition 'Aída. El Egipto soñado' (Aída. The Egypt of Dreams) brings together more than 150 archaeological works, books, documents, replicas, photographs and audiovisuals from various institutions that draw attention to the interest and fascination that Egyptian culture aroused in the 19th century in the West and that is at the genesis of Egyptology.

The exhibition includes the beginnings of Egyptology, in 1798, the date on which Napoleon undertook his famous Egyptian campaign, the results of which would be reflected in the books 'Description de l'Égypte', published between 1809 and 1829. One of the volumes can be seen in this exhibition, in which there is also a reproduction of the burial chamber of the tomb of Sennedjem, made by the Egyptologist Wolfgang Wettengel.

Another important milestone included in the exhibition is the opening of the Suez Canal, one of the largest engineering works in history and in whose planning and development Spanish engineers were involved. 

They also appear in 'Aída. El Egipto soñado' spots dedicated to Tutankhamun and Cleopatra. In turn, the opera 'Aída is represented by pieces from Hugo de Ana's stage design, loaned from the Teatro Real in Madrid. The 'Djehuty Project', led by the exhibition's curator, is also shown in an adjoining room in the exhibition. 'Djehuty' began in 2001 with the aim of excavating, restoring, studying and publishing Djehuty's tomb-chapel and other adjoining funerary monuments.

ID-OUR IDENTITY (ID)

The exhibition DNI-Nuestra Identidad (DNI) (ID-Our Identity (ID)) was born from the collaboration of the MEH with the Berbiquí Association and is made up of 14 works from different artistic disciplines created jointly by artists from Burgos and students from the Berbiquí Association, a Burgos entity that provides inclusive access to art . It is part of the 'MEH Social Responsibility' section with which the Museum gives space to different groups to develop cultural, artistic and scientific actions that have inclusion as their main aim.

The exhibition consists of 14 works by many artists and about thirty collaborators and members of the Berbiquí Association, which values the diversity and individual characteristics of people and reaffirms the sense of belonging of people with different abilities to the Burgos artistic collective. Visitors will be able to witness works that represent disciplines such as music, sculpture, painting, photography, design, architecture or poetry. It is an inclusive creation space where the personal artistic identity of each of the participants is reinforced and they are given the opportunity to continue their training to become a professional artist.

CALLIGRAPHY AND THOUGHT

'Caligrafía y Pensamiento' (Calligraphy and Thought) is on display in the Museum's workshop space (floor -1) and shows graphic art over more than eight centuries, during which man wrote with incipient calligraphy The exhibition, held in collaboration with the León Cathedral Archive, features a hundred original documents that are a journey through the evolution of writing from the 11th century to the present. These include medieval documents, historical manuscripts and personal letters from writers such as Rafael Alberti, Antonio Gamoneda or Luis García Montero.

A part of the exhibition is dedicated to kids where they are taught the alphabet, calligraphy and the tools that have been used throughout history to write. Another part of the exhibition explains how the way the Latin alphabet is written has evolved since Roman times until the appearance of the printing press.

The aim of this exhibition is to show that, just as fingerprints are unique, so are the personalized writing strokes of each individual. The earliest human being humanized nature and drew its marks, foreshadowing another system of communication. Later, when he wrote down what he thought with letters, new ways of transmitting and influencing others had been forged; to capture thoughts so that future times would also be aware of what was happening.

SITE. SYNERGIES BETWEEN ART AND SCIENCE

This is an exhibition that links the Atapuerca scientific project with contemporary art and that has been coordinated by the artist Alejandro Martínez Parra. It unites the scientific disciplines specific to the study of our origins with those of contemporary art; twelve artists have been invited to explore, investigate and each produce a specific work based on their personal view of the Sierra de Atapuerca Sites. 

The fundamental purpose of this project has been to invite artists to contribute effectively in non-artistic places to establish dialogues with other discourses and enrich these dialogues. The exhibition features works by Javier Ayarza, Manuel Blanco, Rufo Criado, Olga Fernández, Bettina Geisselmann, José Ignacio Gil, Rafael Lamata, Paco Mesa, Lola Marazuela, Alejandro Martínez Parra, Julio Mediavilla, Jaime Vallaure, Julián Valle, Edson Zampronha and Cristina Zelich. Some artists work from music and sound art, others from video and performative practices, experimentation with language, photography, pictorial, sculptural and graphic methods. The result, the result of an almost six-month process, can now be seen and experienced at the Atapuerca Experimental Archaeology Centre.

THE KILLER MONKEY

This exhibition is related to the display 'Más allá de 2001. Odiseas de la inteligencia' (Beyond 2001. Odysseys of intelligence) at the Temporary Exhibition Hall of the MEH, since it talks about the year 1968, the year in which the film '2001. A Space Odyssey', premièred, a film that serves as the common thread of the aforementioned exhibition.

The movie showcased a scientific theory that was all the rage in the year it was released: 1968. That is, human evolution began when our earliest ancestors learned to kill their prey and each other. This hypothesis was reinforced by the discoveries taking place at the time in the field of human palaeontology, as well as some of the most accepted theories of the time on animal and human behaviour.

That year was eventful on Earth; the world lived in fear of a nuclear holocaust at the height of the cold war. The Pieza Única Room of the MEH has been covered with a large mural showing a collage of posters and photos of all the great moments of that iconic 1968, reflecting all the cultural content of that time, which saw important events such as the space race, the struggle for racial equality, drafting for the Vietnam War, and the various cultural revolutions or the Cold War.

BEYOND 2001. ODYSSEYS OF INTELLIGENCE

This is an exhibition by the Telefónica Foundation which could be seen at its headquarters in Madrid from October to February and is now travelling to Burgos thanks to the MEH, which has adapted its contents to the Museum's discourse. Taking as its starting point the film by director Stanley Kubrick and co-writer Arthur C. Clarke, the exhibition represents a journey, an odyssey through the paths of human intelligence and one of its most ambitious projects: to create computational systems that are just as smart or smarter than us.

The exhibition speaks of three great moments, three great times of transformation and many other odysseys of the human being on his journey through evolution: The awakening of intelligence, the human-machine relationship and the future of intelligence. The film that has best explained this transition is '2001: A Space Odyssey' and the exhibition establishes analogies between scenes from Kubrick's film with original documents and manuscripts by the director and a selection of significant pieces and works that showcase the relationship between human beings and 'thinking' machines.

With a special emphasis on the synergy between art, science and technology, the main purpose of this exhibition is to show the milestones of human and artificial intelligence ever since the invention of instruments and devices in the past, highlighting the enormous development in the present with the use of artificial intelligence (AI), and the prospects for the future.

Photo: Mat Collishaw, AΩ 2016, Courtesy of the artist and Blain │ Southern

ANIMALIA. FAUNA IN IRON

The Museum of Human Evolution and the Centre for Access to the Atapuerca Sites (CAYAC) in Ibeas de Juarros display 14 iron sculptures by the well-known Burgos artist Cristino Díez. Five of these pieces can be seen in the permanent exhibition of the MEH and nine at the CAYAC. 

Cristino Díez surprises us once again with his huge imagination and with his incomparable genius, resulting in an absolute mastery of matter. His animals come to life in iron; the sculptor masterfully models matter; cubic forms and rust are some of the hallmarks of his work. Cristino's animals integrate perfectly into both sites.

In the Museum of Human Evolution, the pieces 'Rhinoceros', 'Goat', 'Gallinaceae', 'Wolf' and 'Horse' have been exhibited in the permanent exhibition (floors 0, 1 and 2), while at the CAYAC you can see 'Marine Spider', 'Exodus', 'Sea Horse', 'Crane', 3 structural anomalies, the unique series '3 structural fish' and a piece representing a cock-fight. The five pieces exhibited in the Museum will form part of the tour of educational micro-explanations offered by tour guides to visitors, which will explain the importance of the relationship between our ancestors and animals within our evolutionary process. 

PLAY NEW WORLD

‘Play nuevo mundo' (Play New World) recreates the discovery of America in a Playmobil diorama. 10 metres depicting different events that explain moments of our history. The exhibition has spaces dedicated to the city of Burgos, the Archivo de Indias, Trade, the Voyages of Columbus and the Discovery of America. The Casa Cordón is represented in homage to the moment when Columbus was received by the Catholic Monarchs when he set foot in Burgos.

‘Play new world ' is built with lighting, sound effects and even character movement, making creation a different way of learning and spreading knowledge for both children and adults. It also uses recycled material.

Art, culture and different attitudes in the population are part of this entire recreation, which is approached with imagination and creativity. Among other settings, the Archivo de Indias is recreated, with a tribute to the painter Murillo and different scenes showing the sending of correspondence, with several 'nods' to this action.

ADDRESS TO THE ACADEMY. PORTRAITS BY ISABEL MUÑOZ

The exhibition 'Discurso para la Academia. Retratos de Isabel Muñoz' (Address to the Academy. Portraits by Isabel Muñoz) is made up of 20 portraits by the artist Isabel Muñoz, winner of the 2016 National Photography Prize, of gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and of orangutans in Borneo, between 2014 and 2016.

According to Isabel Muñoz herself, the idea arose during a trip to the highlands of New Guinea; she wanted to look for her inspiration in primates because they are "the closest thing to what we are". From that moment on, she was clear about what she had to do; the result is an impressive series of photographs in which she captures the expressions and attitudes of the great apes with her camera, in which we can easily recognize ourselves. "I saw how they hugged each other, how they loved each other... in the same way that we do". Isabel Muñoz speaks through her photos and pays great attention to her language in order to capture the nuances she wants to express.

The photographer had to travel a lot to complete her project. One of the trips has left a permanent mark on her, the one that made the Democratic Republic of the Congo "a country that is both heaven and hell." She has been in the Congo since then, she says. To carry out this project, she decides to work like Rembrandt who “puts in the foreground, illuminated, what he wants to show and is supported by the shadows in the background; but without losing them, because they are part of reality”.  And to give them shape, she uses the platinum print technique on watercolour paper. Platinum print is an ancient, laborious and completely handmade method of development, which produces unique copies. The copying process is done through contact, which requires a negative of the same size as the photograph.

THE POET ADAM ZAGAJEWSKI, WINNER OF THE PRINCESA DE ASTURIAS DE LAS LETRAS AWARD 2017, IN THE POETRY CUBE

The MEH Poetry Cube hosts an exhibition dedicated to the well-known poet, novelist and essayist Adam Zagajewski, winner of the 2017 Princesa de Asturias de las Letras Award.  In this exhibition you can see the documentary 'View of Krakow', directed by Magda Piekorz, in which viewers will be able to learn about the literary facet of the Polish city, with Adam Zagajewski as a guide. The project also has a virtual sound exhibition of some audio poems that can be listened to with a mobile device, through several interactive vinyls distributed throughout the Museum. The Poetry Cube will also have interactive boards to help visitors understand the poems.

The exhibition was created by the 'Ocupaccion Poética' Collective and the Museum of Human Evolution, in collaboration with the Polish Institute of Culture in Madrid, the publishing houses a5 and Cliff, Krakow 'Unesco City of Literature', and the Office of the Promotion of the City of Krakow KBF

'HORTUS SANITATIS’ EXHIBITION

The exhibition 'Hortus Sanitatis  Boticas monásticas y hospitalarias en los caminos de peregrinación' (Monastic and hospital apothecaries on pilgrimage routes) is a journey through the history of pharmacy and shows its evolution from the Middle Ages to the present day, as well as what some of the most important and historic Burgos apothecaries represented. 

It pays particular attention to the apothecary of the old Monastery of San Juan de Burgos or the Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos, and to the work of Burgos apothecaries and pharmacists who stood out in this field. In several showcases you can see 19th-century medicine cabinets and pharmacy jars, 18th-century albarellos, books with great historical value, as well as precision scales, metal mortars or glass vials. 

In the shadow of its cloisters, the oldest apothecaries that we know of in Spain were born, and many of the charitable hospitals created on the Camino de Santiago to care for pilgrims on their way to Compostela were entrusted to their supervision. In this sense, the work of Burgos apothecaries and pharmacists who stood out in the national and international medical and pharmaceutical scene, such as Fray Esteban de Villa, Fray Tomás Paredes, Fray Esteban de Mañería, Hipólito Ruiz López, Lucas Jimeno, Fray Gregorio de Hoyos, Fray Isidoro Saracha, Rafael Sáez, Obdulio Fernández or Emilio de la Puente y Mencía, among others, was very important.

The primitive pharmacopoeia evolves from the Neolithic era, parallel to human evolution. 

The exhibition, launched by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism at the MEH, together with the General Council of Official Associations of Pharmacists and the Official Association of Pharmacists of Burgos, has had the collaboration of the 'VIII Centenario de la Catedral de Burgos 2021' Foundation and the 'La Caixa' Welfare Project. 

40 YEARS OF EXCAVATIONS IN THE SIERRA DE ATAPUERCA

The photographic exhibition '40 años de excavaciones en la Sierra de Atapuerca' (40 years of excavations in the Sierra de Atapuerca) traces the evolution of investigations in the archaeological sites of the Sierra de Atapuerca from 1978 to the present day, telling the story of its research team, its main discoveries and its interest in bringing them to the general public. It is made up of 275 printed photographs and another 400 gathered in four videos.

Made by the Museum of Human Evolution in collaboration with the Atapuerca Foundation, it is divided into three parts: 'The beginning of the research project. Emiliano Aguirre' (1978-1990); The consolidation of the research team' (1991-2000) and the 'Internationalization and socialization of the Atapuerca project' (2001-2018).  Visitors will be able to appreciate 40 years of stories, experiences and commitment to science and learn how techniques and methods have changed in the field and laboratory at the sites throughout this period.

The exhibition also shows the institutional support for the protection of the sites, the excavation campaigns, the investigations and the dissemination of their results, support that has made the Sierra de Atapuerca a global reference. Its sites and associated centres receive a large number of visitors each year, contributing to their training and the socio-economic development of the area.

MVET YA ABA'A

The exhibition has a hundred sculptures, charms, shrines, musical instruments and masks that are part of the Gabao (Gabon) collection, brought together by Jesús Zoido Chamorro and Odome Angone. A good part of them come from the family legacy of Odome, who belongs to the Fang ethnic group (Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Gabon and Democratic Republic of the Congo). As for the rest, the majority come from other Bantu groups that also live in the interior of the Gulf of Guinea (Punu, Téké, Kota, Mbété, Myene, Kwele, Tsogo or Kongo) or in more remote areas (Mangbetu). In addition there is a small representation of pygmy sculpture. 

The exhibition has been curated by Odome Angone and Milagros Algaba and the museum project has been carried out by Elisa Sanz, from Burgos, who has recently won her seventh Max award for scenic design. It is divided into nine spaces with numerous pieces that speak of the ingenuity and vitality of some towns that inspired the avant-garde movements in 20th-century art. They are timeless pieces that transcend generations and show the spirituality of equatorial Africa. A part of the exhibition is dedicated to statues, symbols of identification of the community, another to initiation rites, another space to the 'Aba'A' or house of the word, where all the decisions are made, or to death, where shrines have the purpose of breaking down the borders between the world of the living and the dead.

The pieces on display come from different Bantu ethnic groups that live in the tropical forests of the interior of the Gulf of Guinea. In addition, there is a small representation of a bibayak sculpture (traditionally known as "pygmies"). These Bantu groups have much in common, fundamentally a social order based on ancestor worship. The 'fang', the ethnic group best represented in this exhibition, come, according to some sources, from the Sudanese plateau, in East Africa. The oral tradition says that from there the mythical ancestor led his people to the jungle.

ATAVISMS. PIERRE GONNORD

'Atavismos' (Atavisms), by the artist Pierre Gonnord (Cholet, 1963), is a visual adventure of evolution through 30 photographs, which recreate a particular and timeless evolution linked to our ancestors or descendants, full of riches and atavisms. 

The exhibition, curated by Carmen Fernández Ortiz, travels through the depths of the human being who is in referential contact with nature and other needs for reflection that may be called spiritual. A journey that, in turn, explores thought and relationships between us. This happens through the vision of the artist, whose work considers parameters such as the search for one’s own experience and the memory of the human footprint, from gestures to attitude.  Works that have been recovered over time as essential in the artist's creative process, are accompanied and completed by Gonnord's most recent work process, which he shows us for the first time in this exhibition.

"It is good to rewind and go back to the origin of the portrait, to the first brush stroke that begins with the history of man. Da Vinci said that art was born when man became aware of his shadow. I imagine that humanoid outlining the ephemeral contour of his shadow on the earth itself to celebrate his ego, his vitality and mortal condition. To also rebel and invent eternity. But it doesn't matter that much to know how the history of the portrait started nor the long human representation that we continue to add to."  (Pierre Gonnord, excerpt from text publication of the exhibition).

Gonnord develops his work in the environment of people with a strong individual presence and collective identity. He has received numerous awards and has been invited to be part of important national and international projects.

‘POET IN NEW YORK’ INSTALLATION

The installation 'Poeta en Nueva York' (Poet in New York) is an initiative from the Museum and the 'Ocupaccion Poética' Collective, which claims poetry as a means of self-knowledge and socialization of the individual within their environment. The visitor can listen to Lorca's poems in this cube with the voice of Marcial Romero, and the guitar of Mariano Mangas, in this project conceived and directed by Juan Carlos Ibáñez.

This project has a virtual sound exhibition of these audio poems that can be accessed with a mobile device through the interactive vinyls distributed throughout the Museum. Thus, through the latest technologies offered by mobile devices, this poetry cube establishes a dialogue between poets, performers and musicians of the past and present, the result of which, in the form of an audio poem, is freely available to the public.

PLAYMINERS. THE EVOLUTION OF MINING

The exhibition shows the recreation of the different mining operations in an almost 10-metre long diorama with playmobil figures; a work with mechanizations and decorations that brings the visitor closer to the different periods of mining exploitation. It also presents the different lighting fixtures inside the earth with real objects.  

LIONS IN THE SNOW

'Leones en la nieve' (Lions in the snow) shows the complete skeleton of a cave lion found in 1966 in the Arrikrutz Cave (Oñati, Guipúzcoa). It is the first time that this skeleton has been exhibited, which belonged to an adult specimen that has been estimated to be between 1 and 1.20 metres tall and 250 kilos in weight.

This skeleton is accompanied by other carnivores with which it shared time and space and other fossils such as a complete leopard skull with jaw found in the Allekoaitze cave (Guipúzcoa) and a hyena jaw from Labeko koba (Guipúzcoa). These fossils, together with the Arrikrutz lion, are kept in Gordailúa (Heritage Collections Centre of Guipúzcoa-Basque Government) and have been loaned for the exhibition.

The exhibition also presents a powerful complete skull with jaw of an adult hyena from Pinilla del Valle (Madrid) from the Regional Archaeological Museum of Alcalá de Henares and two fossils from the Archaeological Museum of Bilbao, as well as a dhole skull with jaw, found in the Cueva de Obarreta (Vizcaya) and the skull of a bear from the caves of the Cueva de Askondo, also in Biscay.

Likewise, information is offered on the distribution of the three species of lions during the Pleistocene, as well as on other aspects such as their dentition, diet or the estimation of their size and weight. Another prominent element is the hyper-realistic sculptural reconstruction of a cave lion, which has been made specifically for this exhibition and a video by Iñaki Zubeldia, the discoverer of the skeleton of the Arrikrutz lion, in which he recounts the details of the find.

Another space in the exhibition is dedicated to the relationship between humans and cave lions in the Upper Palaeolithic.

ART AND HUMAN RIGHTS. SIRO LÓPEZ

The exhibition focuses on human rights from the perspective of children, women and the elderly. Siro López, self-taught artist, uses a variety of techniques and materials: from a simple pencil or pen to graffiti, airbrush or collages. In the 26 exhibited works he mixes the realism of his paintings with the installation and assembly of waste materials collected in a variety of contexts. Visitors will be able to appreciate one of his paintings on an old door two metres high in which there are two Peruvian girls painted in oil, looking at you curiously. Immediately afterwards you will find an old washing machine, a hospital bed, windows, drums, boards, soft drink cans, etc.

Siro López explains that in all his paintings he begins to paint through the eyes: “Until I have finished one eye, I don’t continue with the next one. Once I have my eyes painted, I constantly look at their face as if I had the real person in front of me, which allows me to establish a deep connection. They are people that I have been been getting to know on my many trips. Words or silences that seduce me, question me, embrace me, along with objects found in bins, roadside ditches, manure heaps, attics, demolished buildings... A whole archaeological effort of restoring the useless to bring it dignity thanks to art. Each material is intimately linked to the image I paint; from the abandonment of objects and people to the art of life, from the beauty of a world of justice and affection”.

The exhibition has toured numerous Spanish cities and has crossed our borders with great feedback in places such as Venice, Turin or in museums, churches and exhibition halls in Germany, Holland and Belgium.

WHAT REMAINS. ALBERTO BAÑUELOS

The exhibition displays 49 sculptures made with different materials: marble, granite, alabaster or rounded stones, with which Bañuelos has worked to carry out his deconstructions. 

The works of Alberto Bañuelos delve into the nature of the human being, seeking out what will always remain, what is eternal like stone. They represent a kind of written sculpture that refers us in turn to archaeological remains, to tenacious palaeographies that are mere spectators of the work of man. In the many years that Bañuelos has been working with stone, he has made hundreds of sculptures and explored various sculptural languages. Among them, born from the discovery of the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, deconstruction stands out. Bañuelos works with large blocks of stone from which he tries to extract their connection with the perpetual, with the eternal, thus investigating the nature of the human being. This is how his sculptures should be understood, which remind us of all the civilizations we know and the ones we don’t.

The exhibition is part of the 'Los Mejores de los Nuestros' (The Best of Ours) project, launched by the Regional Government of Castilla y León in 2016 with the aim of planning cultural events on different topics to value, on a daily basis and throughout the country, the winners of the Castilla y León Awards in their various categories. It can be visited during the Museum's opening hours and educational tours will be held every day at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

Mountains

The exhibition, carried out in collaboration with the Social Project “la Caixa” and Fundación Caja de Burgos, is made up of more than 200 pieces from different institutions and museums.

Since ancient times the mountain has been a physical challenge for human beings and also a terrain for learning, since flora, fauna, geology, geography, climatology and other branches of knowledge find their expression in these nature strongholds. Finally, the mountain is a symbol of spirituality; due to its vertical configuration, it is the access road to the celestial, the ideal place to communicate with the gods.

VERMEER'S FRIEND. THE EYE AND THE LENS

The display exhibits one of the ten original microscopes belonging to Anton Leeuwenhoek, considered the father of biological microscopy. It is the only Leewenhoek microscope of all those in existence that has undergone all kinds of tests that confirm its authenticity. There are nine other objects like this in the world, but there is doubt about some of their authenticity. Before arriving at the Museum of Human Evolution, this piece has been at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris and at the Royal Society in London.

Curated by Tomás Camacho, who has created one of the best private collections of microscopes in the world, the exhibition also displays a selection of instruments that cover the history of optical microscopy:  20 original microscopes, a 17th-century display case and two highly valued books. 

The Museum's Pieza Única Room has been transformed into a 'Vermeer' space, paying tribute to the great Flemish painter, a friend of Leewenhoek. The scientist may even have helped the painter use a camera obscura, another optical invention, to perfect his paintings. In this sense, the microscope is accompanied by a museography that evokes the interiors of those beautiful paintings by the painter, transporting us to the environment in which Leewenhoek grew up and worked and that refers to two of his famous paintings 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' and 'The Illusionist'.

CIRUELOS. ABSTRACT PRIMITIVISM

The project to link the work of Modesto Ciruelos with the Atapuerca System stems from the pictorial wealth of the artist's career, from its different and varied phases (which span almost seven decades) and from his constant research, study and evolution within the most modern avant-garde. In 2007, the former director of the MNCA Reina Sofía Juan Manuel Bonet referred (in the monographic catalogue dedicated to Modesto Ciruelos on the occasion of the anthological exhibition held at the Museum of the City of Madrid) to a series of works created by the painter in the middle of the last century in the following way:

"Constructive, elementary, austere abstraction, which Ciruelos practices in a series of very interesting oil paintings on panel from 1956 and 1957, in brown ochres, yellows, blues and reds, and in his 'collages' from 1957-1958, one of which is owned by the Junta de Castilla y León. Because of the will to build, because of the limited colour range, and the way orthogonality and tremor are reconciled, we are not far from certain Latin American megalithic primitivism."

These paintings, along with others that can be framed in primitive abstraction, drawings, studies and collages of different formats are those that comprise the exhibition 'Primitivismo Abstracto' (Abstract Primitivism), which fits directly and perfectly with the philosophy and spirit of the archaeological sites of Sierra de Atapuerca, linking one of the most important archaeological sites worldwide with one of the most important Spanish painters of the 20th century and a pioneer of Abstract Art in our country.

In collaboration with the Modesto Ciruelos Foundation.

TOYS. RECYCLING IS NOT A BORE

The Museum of Human Evolution (MEH) hosts the exhibition 'Juguetes. El reciclaje no es una lata' (Toys. Recycling is not a bore) in its workshop space, which features a total of 38 transport vehicles from different eras made from drink cans and other everyday recyclable materials. 

 Visitors can see the work of the Burgos collector Javier Muñoz Quintana, who for years has made these curious toys from recyclable material, mainly from drink cans. He has made motorcycles, trucks, cars, vans, school transport vehicles... For example, classic cars like the 1954 Jaguar S-100, the 1930s Ford-A Taxi, the 1962 Beetle or the 1976 Citroen 2CV or motorcycles like the 1957 Vespa 125. In another section you can see war planes like the one used by the Red Baron in the First World War, a Formula 1 car or the typical London double-decker bus.

ART AS A LANGUAGE. ART: MY LANGUAGE

The Museum of Human Evolution (MEH) hosted the exhibition 'Art as a language. El arte: mi idioma, mi lenguaje', (Art: my language) the result of the work carried out by the Berbiquí Association in collaboration with the Thikwa Occupational Center in Berlin and the Burgos School of Art and Design (EASDB). The exhibition is made up of four spaces: 'Pintando con Luz' (Painting with Light): a series of rayograms (a technique that makes it possible to create images without using a camera); 'Textil: Moebles Skulptur', a set of works resulting from a textile sculpture workshop in which more than 40 people participated; 'Recuerdos Ajenos' (Foreign Memories), made up of images of abandoned photography reels, and 'Buenas impresions' (Good impressions), a series of engravings for which two techniques have been used: lino-engraving and drypoint. Likewise, visitors will be able to see two videos with images that explain this project.

The exhibition is a tool for raising awareness of diversity -through inclusive work- that breaks down stereotypes associated with disability and responds to the need to make art accessible to all people as a form of expression. This project has been financed by the INJUVE Erasmus Plus Program and has had the collaboration of the Museum of Human Evolution.

FROM EXCALIBUR TO BLACK HOLES

The exhibition 'De Excalibur a los Agujeros Negros' (From Excalibur to Black Holes) explores the universe, with a special focus on gravity. It can be seen for free on the 2nd floor of the Museum.

The exhibition, curated by José Latova, is divided into four parts. The first of them focuses on the figure of Galileo Galilei, the second on Isaac Newton, the third on Einstein and the fourth on Black Holes. Throughout the gallery, among other phenomena, the difference between weight and mass is explained, it talks about the planets that are outside our Solar System or about issues that affect our daily lives such as why things fall, how gravity affects our world or aspects of the universe related to how the planets rotate, which of them are outside the Solar System, why the stars shine, what space-time is or how much a black hole weighs.

It has illustrative panels, videos, activities, games, and interactive installations which visitors can use to learn while having fun, especially children, who will be able to play and learn about concepts such as the gravitational experience, showing them how it features in our daily lives without us being aware of its presence. 

WITNESSES OF NEGLECT

The Museum of Human Evolution (MEH) and 'Doctors Without Borders' (MSF) organize the exhibition 'Witnesses of neglect', which shows the reality of four neglected human crises of our time – Occupied Palestinian Territories, Niger, Ethiopia and Colombia–, narrated by Martín Caparrós, Santiago Roncagliolo, Laura Restrepo and Manuel Rivas, with the vision of Juan Carlos Tomasi.
 
The exhibition, launched by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism at the MEH, which can be visited until October 23 on floor -1 of the Museum, brings us closer to the human face of suffering, constant violence and media abandonment that these four corners of the planet endure. It does so through 40 photographs structured into four sections, each one focused on a context: Occupied Palestinian Territories with Martín Caparrós, Niger with Santiago Roncagliolo, Ethiopia with Laura Restrepo, and Colombia with Manuel Rivas, who travelled accompanied by the photojournalist, reporter and audiovisual producer Juan Carlos Tomasi.
 
This exhibition is the second part of the 'Witnesses of neglect' project, launched by MSF in collaboration with El País Semanal.

ART AND NATURE IN PREHISTORY. THE MNCN CAVE ART COLLECTION

'Arte y Naturaleza en la Prehistoria' (Art and Nature in Prehistory) shows a selection of 127 casts and plates from the cave art collection that is held in the MNCN archive. Some of these casts are exhibited in an environment similar to that of the caves where they were created. Graphite, India ink on paper of various weights, charcoal or colour washes are some of the techniques that were applied to make the thousands of copies that make up the iconographic ensemble. A collection that represents both Paleolithic paintings, as well as Levantine and schematic art from practically the entire Spanish peninsula.

The cave of Penches, Valdelacueva (Burgos), the cave of La Vieja (Albacete), the Tajo de las Figuras (Cádiz), Los Letreros (Almería), El Pindal, (Asturias), El Castillo (Cantabria), the large shelter de Minateda (Albacete), and the area of Morella la Vella or Valltorta (Castellón) are some of the original locations of the exhibited works. "The exhibition is a journey through the cave paintings and shelters that gave refuge to our ancestors, which seeks to let the visitor discover the meaning and value of a unique historical collection," explains Begoña Sánchez Chillón, curator of the exhibition.

Divided into four areas, the tour begins with the representation of the different motifs that inspired human beings, such as animals, or even man's image of himself, sometimes adorned with signs and symbols of different interpretations. Below are copies of complete scenes found in different places that give an idea of the artistic expression of their creators. There are representations of cave art that have not survived the passage of time, which makes the copies that are exhibited their only testimony.

JEWELLERY. INSPIRATION FROM THE PAST

The exhibition, which brings together designs by 30 jewellers from eleven different countries, appreciates jewellery as part of our cultural history. Inspired by Prehistory and using different techniques and materials, they aim to move the visitor by extolling the jewel as a conceptual element, going beyond their ornamental value.

Curated by Sara Serna, the exhibition, launched by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism at the MEH, features pieces by designers from Spain, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Greece, Venezuela, Italy, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Belgium, Portugal and France. They exhibit various innovative techniques, materials, shapes and textures in artistic jewellery with prehistoric inspiration and research, in order to move the visitor and seek a reaction in the expression of the pieces.

As an installation that invites reflection, the exhibition shows the approach of jewellery to Prehistory and Contemporary Art, combining the three concepts (jewels, Prehistory and art) in one, thus seeking to draw the viewer's attention with the intention of being observed and analysed conceptually.

SKULL 4

This skull, of the species Homo heidelbergensis, was discovered in July 1992 in the Sima de los Huesos of the Sierra de Atapuerca sites, together with skulls 5 and 6, and is 430,000 years old.

The protagonist of this exhibition is a neurocranium or calvaria, that is, a skull that lacks a face. It has a large brain volume for its age and is wide and low-vaulted. In addition, it has a bony rim on the orbits or supraorbital torus reminiscent of Neanderthals, who came later. The Neanderthal torus is characterized by the fact that the arches of the two orbits merge in the interorbital region or glabella (on the bones of the nose), and because its section is round. The occipital bone shows a straight and thin torus and on it there is a flat semicircular surface, called the suprainiac area. This morphology predates that of the Neanderthals, but it is not the same.

In addition to the display of Skull 4, in the exhibition you can see two casts: one of Skull 5 and another skull from a Homo sapiens so that visitors can compare the different morphologies and sizes. Additionally, a reconstruction of Skull 5 is exhibited, made by the paleo-artist Fabio Fogliazza, who carried out the reconstruction of the 'Feathered Neanderthal' that can currently be seen at the MEH.
 
You can also see an audiovisual piece made by Javier Trueba, with real images of the excavation process of Skull 4, its presentation to the rest of the excavation team and the media. Likewise, for the first time in an exhibition setting, the sequence of the mitochondrial genome of the oldest human genetic material ever recovered from a fossil is on display.

In another part of the exhibition, replicas of different fossil skulls found with a similar chronology (Mid-Pleistocene) at sites in different parts of the world are exhibited, such as the skull found in Elyie Springs (Tanzania), 250,000 years old; the one from Tautavel (France) found by Henry de Lumley in the Arago Cave, 450,000 years old; the one from Kabwe (Broken Hill, Zambia) to which the scientific name of Homo rhodesiensis was assigned, the one from Sambungmacan (Java, Indonesia) and which belongs to the species Homo erectus or the one from Ceprano (Italy) which is 400,000 years old and which could be from a very late Homo antecessor or heidelbergensis.

DIALOGUES IN SPACE: BRONZE AND FIRE. VENANCIO BLANCO

This exhibition presents ten bronze sculptures representative of the broad theme developed by the sculptor Venancio Blanco and of the different approaches and plastic languages of this artist. The exhibition tries to establish dialogues in space using the three facilities of the Atapuerca System: The Museum of Human Evolution, the Site Access Centre (CAYAC) and the Experimental Archaeology Centre (CAREX). For this, ten large-format sculptures cast in bronze have been selected, choosing those that had a relationship with the contents and with the space that houses them. Five of these works have been integrated into the permanent exhibition of the MEH in an enriching and surprising dialogue with its contents.

'La Bailaora' (The Dancer), a representative work of Venancio Blanco's passion for flamenco, and 'Pastor' (Shepherd), which shows his love for the rural world, can be seen at the MEH along with other more informal creations such as 'Comunicación' (Communication), designed in relation to Television and Radio, 'Reposo' (Rest), an exercise in free interpretation carried out with his students from Moratalaz or 'El Cisne' (The Swan), a composition in which he studies the lines of flight through spatial development.

For his part, Saint Francis of Assisi, particularly related to nature, shares the Atapuerca CAREX with 'Música barroca' (Baroque Music), arising from the need to draw the beauty, grandeur and harmony of a symphony with matter. 'El Toro y el Torero' (The Bull and Bullfighter - winner of the First Medal of the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1962), is located in the CAYAC of Ibeas de Juarros.

Venancio Blanco, painter, drawer and sculptor, is one of the main innovators of contemporary artistic language. His passion for drawing and sculpture, together with his enormous body of work, translates into a general interest in life. Hence, he has dealt with very different topics- religion, music and flamenco, portraiture, the animal and rural world, bullfighting, sports, etc. - and worked with various materials. The artist has also carried out important work as an educator in Fine Arts throughout his life, developing his teaching vocation within official education, but also through monographic courses given to a wide range of students.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE HABITAT

The exhibition features photographs of three great works by the renowned photographer Rosa Muñoz: 'Casas' (Houses), ‘El Bosque  habitado' (The Inhabited Forest) and 'Paisajes del futuro' (Landscapes of the future). Muñoz has participated in the most important national and international photography fairs such as 'Zona Maco. México Arte Contemporáneo' or 'Seoul Photo Festival' and some of her works form part of collections as relevant as those of the 'The Centre Pompidou' in Paris, the Museum of Contemporary Art of La Coruña (MACUF) or the collections of the Autonomous Community of Madrid.

Her work is made up of images of great aesthetic appeal, true staged visual poems that reflect in one way or another on issues that affect us all, such as the passage of time, memory, nostalgia, our cultural identity, etc...

This exhibition consists of three series. In the first, and most historic of them, 'Casas', Muñoz has chosen certain abandoned and semi-ruined urban spaces that exist in the grey reality of large cities to rebuild these peculiar dwellings, as colourful, dreamlike and fantastic as they are neo-realistic and nostalgic. These are real dramatizations, with a lot of prior physical work behind them and without resorting to digital techniques or Photoshop.

For its part, the series 'El bosque habitado' consists of images of furniture and interior design objects located and presented in natural spaces. The reason for this paradoxical encounter lies in her interest in creating, within her evolution of staged photography, a small aesthetic and conceptual transgression which, logically, also aims to be poetic. 

Lastly, in 'Paisajes del futuro' Muñoz reflects on the loss of the indigenous identity of the cities of the contemporary world due to the effects caused by globalization.

TIN TOYS

The display also talks about one of the greatest trade figures of the time: the Consulate of the Sea of Burgos. Items such as wool, whale oil and many other commodities revolved around it.

The new exhibition is made up of almost 50 tin toys called 'Clásicos Payá' from the Payá factory (Ibi, Alicante) that are a series made for collectors, of which 5,000 numbered copies were released between 1984 and 2005. These are faithful reproductions of the original models, using the same tooling, identical lithography and following the traditional system that was used during the first half of the 20th century.

All the models on display come from the second quarter of the 20th century; cars such as the convertible 'coupé limousin' (1929), the red Bugatti of 1930 (of which there are only 1,000 copies), the sedans of the 1930s or the Packard of the 1950s. In addition, visitors can see trams such as the Tibidabo from 1925, the tuf-tuf motorcycle (1936) and both passenger and freight railways. In another part of the exhibition, aircraft such as the Junkers or the Zeppelin (1931) are exhibited, and the world of the circus is also showcased; all this shows us not only how the world of toys has changed with new materials, but also how our lives have changed.

TOMB OF GIANTS: DOLMEN AND TUMULUS IN BURGOS PROVINCE

From this Tuesday, November 23, the Atapuerca Experimental Archaeology Centre (CAREX) is hosting the exhibition 'Tumba de Gigantes. Dólmenes y túmulos de la provincia de Burgos' (Tomb of Giants: Dolmens and Tumulus in the Burgos province) organized jointly by the Atapuerca System, the CAYPAT (Audiovisual Communication and Cultural Heritage) research group of the University of Burgos and the Culture Unit of the Burgos Provincial Council.  The exhibition can be visited free of charge until December 17 during the opening hours of the Atapuerca CAREX (Tuesday to Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.).

THE FIRST PERSONAL COMPUTER: APPLE COMPUTER M0001. HUMAN INTELLIGENCE VERSUS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

The Apple Computer M0001 was the first personal computer ever created. It is in perfect condition and works as if it were new, but it is already a museum exhibit, since computing has "evolved" enormously since then. Next to it, we can see the brain of one of the Sima de los Huesos skulls, which is 430,000 years old, and that of an Australopithecus africanus from at least 2.5 million years ago. The human brain has also "evolved" a lot since then. It has done so at an accelerated rate in geological time, but at a much slower rate than that of computers. The big question is whether artificial intelligence will have overtaken human intelligence within a few decades. This phenomenon is known as "The Singularity" and it will come to fruition when machines design better machines than themselves.

ATAPUERCA SITES: TWELVE ARTISTS, TWELVE VISIONS

The Museum of Human Evolution presents a unique project that links its own scientific disciplines with those of contemporary art. Twelve artists, all of them interested in projects in specific spaces, have been invited to explore, investigate and produce a work based on their personal view of the Sierra de Atapuerca sites.

The results, the fruit of a process developed over almost six months, have been plenty, in a desire to create very contrasting visions. The artists have developed their projects through the great variety of possibilities that are currently open to art: the production of images, research into materials, work with sound, performative practices or experimentation with language. The projects, moreover, had to be discreetly integrated into a non-artistic space but into a pedagogical environment such as the Atapuerca Experimental Archaeology Center (CAREX) where they have been housed throughout 2020. The nature and results of that experience are now recreated in the Museum through exhibits and a number of graphic documents.

Txalupak & Carretas

The exhibition, inaugurated by the Albaola Basque Museum, the 'La Caixa' Welfare Projects and the Caja de Burgos Foundation, highlights the relationship between the Meseta and the Bay of Biscay. 

Visitors will be able to learn in detail about the characteristics of a full-scale whaling boat, as well as the history of the discovery of the 16th-century ship San Juan, based on a model of the remains found (about five meters long by two wide) of this sunken wreck off the coast of Newfoundland-Labrador. These remains were excavated in the 1980s in Red Bay (Newfoundland and Labrador). 

Likewise, by means of a carpenter's 'txoko', in which carpenters from the Albaola riverbank will build different pieces for the San Juan ship once a month, visitors will be shown the techniques and materials used in 16th-century ship-building.

Another of the exhibition spaces will be dedicated to the forests of the Burgos mountains which, as was the case in the past, provide the wood and tar necessary for ship-building. In this area, visitors will be able to appreciate the different types of woods from which tar and pitch are obtained, as well as the tools used to produce them.

Atavismos. Pierre Gonnord

‘Atavismos’, del artista Pierre Gonnord (Cholet, 1963), es una aventura visual de la evolución a través de 30 fotografías, que recrean una particular y atemporal evolución ligada a nuestros ancestros o descendientes, llena de riquezas y atavismos. 

La muestra, comisariada por Carmen Fernández Ortiz, transita por las profundidades del ser humano que está un contacto referencial con la naturaleza y otras necesidades de reflexión que pueden denominarse espirituales. Tránsito que, a su vez, explora el pensamiento y las relaciones entre nosotros. Esto sucede a través de las miradas del artista, cuyo trabajo contempla parámetros como la búsqueda de su propia experiencia y el recuerdo de la huella humana, desde el gesto o la actitud.  Obras que se recuperan en el tiempo como imprescindibles en el camino de creación del artista,  son acompañadas y completadas por el proceso de trabajo más reciente de Gonnord que nos muestra por primera vez en esta exposición.

‘Está bien retroceder y remontar hasta el origen del retrato, del primer gesto que empieza con la historia del hombre. Da Vinci dijo que el arte nació cuando el hombre fue consciente de su sombra. Me imagino a ese humanoide esbozando el contorno efímero de su sombra en la tierra misma para celebrar su ego, su condición vital y mortal. Para rebelarse también e inventar la eternidad. Pero no importa tanto saber cómo empieza la historia del retrato y la larga representación humana que seguimos escribiendo.’ (Pierre Gonnord, fragmento texto publicación de la exposición).

Gonnord desarrolla su obra en el entorno de personas con fuerte presencia individual y de identidad colectiva. Ha recibido numerosos reconocimientos y ha sido invitado a formar parte de importantes proyectos nacionales e internacionales.

Galería de fotos

JOSÉ LATOVA. 40 YEARS OF SPANISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL PHOTOGRAPHY. 1975-2014

This exhibition covers the last 40 years in the history of Spanish archaeology, with more than 100 photographs, five audiovisuals and several publications by Latova, a regular photographer of Spain's most important archaeological projects. The exhibition is a tribute to the work of archaeological photographers. Spanning the period from 1975 to the present, it looks at the role and development of one of the most effective forms of archaeological documentation.
 

Latova and his camera have covered sites from every period across the country. The exhibition helps visitors to reconstruct and understand the whole process of an archaeological dig (discoveries, processes, work, people, techniques, etc.), and also to comprehend our past through the stories articulated by archaeologists on the basis of the photographs taken at these digs, triggering memories with which we imagine what our ancestors were like, their material society, their homes, fortifications, graves, daily routines, rituals and ceremonies.
 

This collection also looks at another facet of Latova, unrelated to documentary photography yet coinciding with it thanks to his enormous artistic talent, strikingly obvious in many of the works on display. They all reflect the vigour of science and a passion for adventure, perfectly represented in his figure. Latova has contributed cutting edge technical and photographic solutions to archaeological photography such as the use of digital technology and 3D photogrammetry, now used in rock art research, most notably in the Djehuty excavation project, headed by Jose Manuel Galan.

THE BEAR PIT

This exhibition features a bear skull that is more than 400,000 years old and a magnificent sculpture of an adult individual of the same species, the ancestor of the cave bear. They are accompanied by a video by Javier Trueba, who narrates the long adventure of these fossils down to the present day.
The Pit of Bones (Sima de los Huesos in Spanish) is above all, a Pit of Bears. Over time, many of the bears that hibernated in Atapuerca's Cueva Mayor fell down this shaft. The numerous fossils from every part of the skeleton at this site have allowed us to discover and describe the distinctive features of this bear species, 'Ursus deningeri'.
 

There is also an original sculpture of one of these bears standing upright on its hind legs. This powerful work of art, produced with impeccable scientific rigour and advice by Drs. Nuria Garcia and Elena Santos, is by Sonia Cabello, sculpture professor at Madrid's Complutense University School of Fine Arts.

In an audiovisual by Javier Trueba, visitors accompany the Atapuerca team on their way into the Pit of Bones and see the traces left by bears in the cave -claw marks and bedding-, the excavation process, the bone cleaning and stabilization process in the lab, and in short, everything that has allowed this skull to arrived here in such a magnificent state.

GONE WITH THE WIND. THE SIXTH EXTINCTION

This exhibition narrates the slow extinction of animal species over the last 10,000 years, with excellent fossil specimens, models, naturalized animals and extraordinary murals in a display that encourages visitors to think about the current situation and how we humans manage our ecosystem. The story begins with some of the glacial megafauna (large mammals) that disappeared when the ice began to melt 11,000 years ago.

The exhibit includes some 30 fossils of extinct animals: highly relevant original items including a magnificent 35,000 year old mammoth jawbone from the Padul bog in Granada, the most southerly specimens found to date, a Glyptodon shell (a key mammal in Darwin's formulation of his theory of evolution), the tail of a Megatherium (one of only five in Europe), one of the terrestrial land mammals that has ever existed and the leg of a Macrauchenia (a large herbivore) from the Botet collection in the Valencia Science Museum and an invaluable specimen of the naturalized Thylacine (carnivorous marsupial) from the Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid.

This extinct animal, the Tasmanian wolf or tiger (on account of the stripes on its back) could still be seen in captivity in 1936. This magnificent carnivore marsupial lived in Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania, where its disappearance is attributed to intensive hunting. Three magnificent large-format murals by Mexican palaeoartist Sergio de la Rosa were painted for this exhibition, giving visitors a chance to see these animals in a lively posture. The exhibition is also an opportunity for visitors to think about our responsibility for changes in the ecosystem, the loss of species and the future of the biosphere. Right now, 213 mammals, 213 birds, 168 reptiles, 525 amphibians and 423 fish are in critical danger of extinction.

BESTIARY, THE DISCOVERY OF A KINGDOM

This exhibition shows how the animal kingdom has been known and represented graphically over the centuries. The 80 items are primarily images from manuscripts, books and prints, as well as sculptures, skeletons and anatomical figures and three-dimensional reconstructions. The exhibition begins with animals represented in medieval books and exotic animals little-known in the Middle Ages, despite classical and biblical references, and mythological creatures that existed in the popular imagination.

The exhibition then passes through the Renaissance and Baroque periods, when the printing press permitted wider knowledge of the first scientifically acceptable zoologies. 'Bestiaria, the discovery of a kingdom' is a journey through time and space that begins with the reproduction of a cave painting from Altamira and ends with a 3D view of lab specimens now possible in the 21^st century. "This is a gaze that begins in darkness and ends peering into a microscope", says Ricardo Piñero (University of Salamanca), joint curator of the exhibition along with Ignacio de Gaspar (Complutense University, Madrid). In the words of Juan Luis Arsuaga, scientific director of the Museum of Human Evolution (MHE), “This exhibition is a rethink of the 'cultural history' of animals in relation to humans, in other words, a reconstruction of the history of humans, without losing sight of our animality. Seasonality, imagination, mystery, belief: links in a chain that gradually reveal and outline the nuances of a dream, to tell the story of the beasts of the Earth".

This exhibition is the first of three designed in collaboration with "La Caixa" Social Projects and the Caja de Burgos Foundation under a cooperation agreement recently signed with the MHE.

ECHOS: SOUNDSCAPES OF HUMAN EVOLUTION

This exhibition in the Unique Exhibit Room is a new sensory experience for visitors, who discover the sounds that have accompanied human evolution for the last 4,000,000 years. This sensory journey starts with the characteristic sounds of the African rainforest inhabited by the great apes four million years ago, mixed with other less known species. Then, half a million years later, we can detect the sounds of the African savannah, where Australopithecus occupied large, sunny areas along with African fauna. Listening closely, we can also hear echoes from a million years ago, when hominins experienced the changing seasons in Eurasia and Homo antecessor coexisted with bison and aurochs.

From there we move on to the last Ice Age and the first sounds that accompanied Neolithic man in the Middle East, and then finish with voices and music from today. At the end of the exhibition, we can listen to typical sounds of Bushmen, Maasai dancers, Amazon Indians and the inhabitants of Papua New Guinea; a veritable melting pot of peoples and races who still live outside time, as well as the sounds of technologies that have changed our way of life: steam engines, radio interference, static electricity and traffic. In short, a soundtrack that enhances and re-educates our appreciation of the value of hearing.

THE CRADLE OF HUMANITY

"The Cradle of Humanity", a unique presentation on display at the Temporary Exhibition Room at the MHE, brings together the most important discoveries in Africa related to the origins of human evolution. The 200 items help visitors to understand how the human genus emerged in Africa almost four million years ago. 'The Cradle of Humanity' is divided into five main areas. They explain the archaeological and palaeontological importance of the area in northern Tanzania, where every stage of human evolution is represented, from the first Australopithecus species to modern hunter-gatherer communities like the Hazda.

This exhibition complements and expands the information contained in the permanent exhibition, and opens up new perspectives and relationships in the Museum of Human Evolution's discourse. Over 100 original tools illustrate the technological evolution of these hominids, including the first evidence of knapping almost 2 million years ago and the first Acheulean innovations, along with original fossils of the fauna that coexisted with these hominids and landscape interpretations by Mauricio Anton.

Reproductions produced by direct moulding and 3D scanning show remains of Australopithecus, the first Homo and the oldest sapiens, along with emblematic fossils such as Lucy, the Taung boy and others.

CHANGE OF IMAGE: A NEW LOOK FOR THE NEANDERTHALS

'The feathered Neanderthal', by the Milan Museum of Natural History's palaeoartist Fabio Fogliazza, is the centerpiece of this temporary exhibition in the MHE's new exhibition space. Around her, other items present evidence that seems to indicate that a conscious, symbolic mind with a capacity for expression through language has not been an exclusive trait of Homo sapiens. This exhibition contains information about the Fumane site in Italy, along with a selection of the birds found there, whose feathers are part of the 'Feathered Neanderthal' sculpture.

UANTOKS. PEDRO SAURA'S EXPEDITIONS INTO THE PAPUA-NEW GUINEA HIGHLANDS

'Uantoks. Pedro Saura's expeditions to the Papua New Guinea highlands', presents a fascinating country with one of the world's greatest ethnic and linguistic diversity, probably the result of an extremely old history with much still remaining to be known. In this regard it illustrates one of the aims of the Museum of Human Evolution, to show every possible aspect of humanity, our history, our diversity, the different zones where we had -and still have- to develop. In this exhibit, visitors accompany Pedro Saura on a journey through an area which until recently was largely unknown, where tribes have kept their lifestyles unchanged for thousands of years amidst impenetrable jungles flanked by mountains covered by eternal snows and active volcanoes.

Photographs and a collection of ethnographic items open our eyes to exotic landscapes, remote villages and sophisticated ceremonies still performed by an enormous variety of groups who live in this land. Pedro Saura, Professor of photography at Madrid's Complutense University School of Fine Arts, travelled to Papua New Guinea in 1983 and decided to document the lands and peoples who form a living example of how prehistoric lifestyles could have been anywhere in the world, before they disappear. On this and subsequent journeys in 1985, 1988, 1991 and 1994, he filmed and photographed landscapes and scenes of everyday life.

The people of the Highlands use everything available from their natural surroundings. Despite being warriors, conflicts between tribes are resolved by celebrations more often than in battles. This has generated some of the world's most stunning costumes and the most colourful original skin decorations, the most important milestones in the lives of the tribe members. Click on this link to see photos from the exhibition. Click on this link for a video presentation.

More pictures at this link

https://www.pinterest.com/11meh/uantoks-las-expediciones-de-pedro-saura-a-las-tier/

BODIES IN WAX. THE ART OF ANATOMY

'Bodies in wax. The Art of Anatomy' contains part of the Complutense University's collection of wax anatomical models, bequeathed by the San Carlos Royal College of Surgery. This one of world's best collections. It consists of anatomical wax sculptures of great anthropological, historical, artistic, anatomical and educational value made in 18^th century. These sculptures by Juan Cháez and Luigi Franceschi evidence the authors' deep technical knowledge.

They are extremely expressive, to the astonishment of the visitor. Some 40 wax sculptures in different tones were chosen for this exhibition to illustrate three main aspects: obstetrics, bipedalism and the brain. The anatomical models explain the evolution and the peculiarities of the human race in four main sections: the upright posture, the vocal apparatus, the brain and childbirth.

The exhibition also features scenes, décor and cloth that transport us to different environments and periods, as well as large-scale images, crafts and manual machines, all set in seven areas. One of the highlights of the exhibition is an exquisitely sculpted skeleton with transparencies and veils. The highlights of the body are explained dynamically here, with the help of Eadweard Muybridge's strips of images, 'Human and Animal Locomotion photography'.

Another feature is 'A different delivery', which brings the visitor into the core of the collection of wax models and one of the groups of sculptures, one on childbirth and another on anatomically related aspects. 'The gift of the word' brings us to the third theme of the exhibition: the brain, language and bipedalism. The wax models in this zone explain the larynx and the hearing apparatus. 

Making of the Museum of Human Evolution

The first temporary exhibition was held from October to December 2010 and aimed to bring the public closer to the ins and outs of the exhibition installation that took place during the months prior to the inauguration of the Museum of Human Evolution. Visitors were able to discover the different phases of the installation and the various crafts related to it, thus discovering how the ambitious musicological and museographic project of the permanent exhibition was carried out. This exhibition, produced by the MEH, tried to recreate the works that took place during the exhibition installation, so you could see scaffolding, platforms, unfinished structures and the materials with which they worked. It was like taking a snapshot of the installation process. The exhibition had seven well-differentiated areas: Exterior landscape, interior landscape, original fossil modules, Beagle, Hominids, Brain and Fire, and allowed a better understanding of the materials used and the work phases carried out in the different installations.

Neanderthals, from Iberia to Siberia

This exhibition, organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Regional Government of Castilla y León and curated by Antonio Rosas, a palaeobiologist from the CSIC-MNCN, displayed original fossils donated by other museums that revealed how a species that was contemporary with the genus homo lived. In addition, the reconstruction of a Neanderthal baby made by Elisabeth Daynés was exhibited for the first time in Spain. Visitors were able to see the main Neanderthal fossils found in Castilla y León, as well as pieces housed in the National Archaeological Museum and the Geominero Museum, exceptional for learning about the life forms found, notably including those from the cave of Valdegoba (Huérmeces, Burgos). Likewise, it was possible to see reproductions made expressly for the MEH of pieces from the Neanderthal Museum in Germany, the Musée Tautavel in France, the IPHES in Tarragona and the Prehistory Area of the University of Burgos. With this exhibition it was possible to complete the MEH's discourse on this species by updating the new discoveries, especially those coming from DNA analysis, and to bring the history of the Neanderthals closer to the public. For this, an informative discourse was developed on the history of the discoveries of this lineage, its phylogenetic context, the peculiar anatomical characteristics, the natural environment in which they developed, how they lived and their subsequent extinction. You can see photographs of the exhibition here http://goo.gl/F4OnV   

PLAYEVOLUTION. THE MEH AND ATAPUERCA IN THE PLAYMOBIL LANDSCAPE

The temporary exhibition 'PlayEvolución. Atapuerca y el MEH en paisaje playmobil' (PlayEvolution. Atapuerca and the MEH in the playmobil landscape) can be seen in the Museum's workshop area from June 20 to November 18 for free. This exhibition, born from the collaboration of Playmobil Ibérica, the Playmobil Collectors Association (Aesclick), the MEH and the Luz y Vida Bookstore, shows the world of Atapuerca and the Museum seen from the Playmobil landscape and perspective. The first part of the exhibition recreates prehistoric life in the Sierra de Atapuerca. Another area is dedicated to the excavation area of the Atapuerca Sites. There are several archaeologists excavating and the three co-directors of the Atapuerca Sites, Eudald Carbonell, José María Bermúdez de Castro and Juan Luis Arsuaga.  Finally, a model of the Museum of Human Evolution has been built in which the most emblematic areas of the Museum can be seen. In total, the exhibition has just over 600 figures belonging to different private collections.

By clicking this link you can see photos of the exhibition http://goo.gl/nQUCF

Jane Goodall and the chimpanzees of Gombe

We're shown the reality of research projects and conservation initiatives this PhD has developed through didactic panels and photographs. Goodall in Gombe (Tanzania) went further on the characteristics of chimpanzees such as feeding, behaviours, use of tools or the difficulties they've encountered and that occasionally have put them on the brink of extinction. Also, for this exhibition the museum has set up a vase for visitors to recycle their old mobile phones. The Jane Goodall Institute in Spain has launched the campaign 'Movilízate por la selva' (Speak out for the jungle) with the support of the primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall, Prince of Asturias Award 2003 and Messenger of Peace by the United Nations. This initiative offers a free and easy way to donate unused mobile phones (whether they work or not), allowing reuse of these terminals, reducing the unsustainable demand for their components, recycling useful items and disposing of toxic materials properly, so avoiding enviromental pollution. All money raised by recycling these phones' components, through the Eurekamovil company, will be sent to Africa to finance development projects in rural areas.

BOTANyCA, a reflection on forests and knowledge of species

BOTANyCA, along the lines the Museum of Human Evolution, is developing around a reflection on forests and knowledge of the different species, proposing a new space. The friendly MEH environment affords enjoyment of plant species from another perspective, as a source of inspiration for current artists and their various forms of visual representation. This exhibition is held in collaboration with the Complutense University of Madrid and consists of 50 works by 15 contemporary artists who are part of the research group 'Arte, Naturaleza y Ciencia de la UCM' (Art, Nature and Science at the UCM). You can see sculptures, photographs, paintings, mixed media and installations. Elements that are all emotionally charged and in which each artist conveys ideas in the language that best facilitates their own mode of self-expression, from the conceptual to the surreal, from photorealism to magical realism. With different techniques, these artists get small doses of wisdom that enable each of them to create very suggestive works.  From the analysis of the interaction between Nature and Science very suggestive scenes arise: calligraphy treated with care, stepped leaves' footprints on wet soil, insects camouflaging themselves among branches, landscapes viewed through a peephole, stems that twist in a surprisingly natural manner... elements that are all emotionally charged and which each artist conveys in their particular language.

Video of the presentation at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQlMgmtYCM8

Exhibition photograph atthis link http://pinterest.com/11meh/botanyca-la-naturaleza-vista-desde-el-arte/ More information at this link: http://goo.gl/bxc4A

The Inner Forest

'El Bosque Interior' (The Inner Forest) is an exhibition in which the visitor is the main protagonist. The exhibition 'El Bosque Interior' by PhotoAlquimia, in collaboration with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), is presented as an adventure in which each visitor can become an explorer and solve a mystery through the clues that the forest itself will reveal to them. For the whole length of the exhibition, which can be seen at the Visitor Reception Centre of Atapuerca, the visitor has the feeling of being inside a large forest and is invited to touch, hear, smell and look, being trained through their five senses. You can also check the features of the forest through the four seasons of its life: its overflowing spring, its summer splendour, its decline in fall and its winter dormancy. Air, water, fire and earth, the four elements and their transformations are also present in the exhibit. The exhibition highlights forest diversity and continuous transformation through panels. Each tree has a story and is willing to share it with those who are willing to listen. The exhibition addresses concepts such as diversity, adaptation, transformation or life networks. Consequently, the explorer will learn that everything fits and functions in the woods, providing them with a clear vision of what sustainable development means. More information at this linkhttp://www.photoalquimia.com/blog/?cat=45

L-Evolución, a walk through the origins of human evolution

The L-Evolución exhibition, resulting from the collaboration between the MEH and the Cultural Association of Amateur LEGO Constructions of Spain has about 200,000 pieces and consists of ten themed dioramas, each representing a characteristic time of evolution and history, from the early life of the Precambrian to the present day. All dioramas include references to the history of Spain, the city of Burgos and the Museum of Human Evolution and Atapuerca itself. The visitor can see the first human settlements in the Neolithic period, the Roman times shown through a city of Hispania, the Middle Ages, the Napoleonic invasion seen through the battle of Gamonal and the industrial revolution represented through the mining railroad of Sierra de la Demanda. In addition, the Museum of Human Evolution and the Atapuerca project are very present in the display. There are also many small miniature figures representing Roman legions, medieval peasants, Archaeology students and famous people like El Cid or Napoleon. Visitors who come to see the exhibition may participate in a competition where they can win LEGO sets. The game consists of finding a series of mini-figures that have been lost in evolution and have been cast in an age that is not theirs. Once located, you have to capture a bidi code with your mobile phone that will forward you to an Internet application with which you can check the location of each one. Photographs of the exhibition at these links https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.626813680663232.1073741847.138200329524572&type=1 http://pinterest.com/11meh/l-evoluci%C3%B3n-un-paseo-por-la-historia-de-la-mano-de/

Beauty: an endless search

This temporary exhibition, held in collaboration with L'Oréal Spain will run until January 12th, 2014. It displays more than a hundred pieces from diverse backgrounds featured in six different areas. Foremost among others, parts of the prestigious Raffel Pagés Museum of the History of Hairdressing, those of Roger & Gallet's or the Joya del Silo (Jewel of the Silo), a gold bracelet from the Bronze Age found in Atapuerca. The exhibition takes a scientific and cultural tour to reflect on the concept of beauty from its beginnings to the present day, and even advance what the beauty of the future will be like. The exhibition is divided into the following areas: 'The nature of beauty', 'Fascination for beauty', 'Generation de la toilette', 'Beauty, power and everyday life', 'Lights, camera, action' and 'Beauty: Science and Future' and covers representative unique icons throughout history such as bifaces made by Homo ergaster, Egyptian necklaces or Roman crowns. There is also a space for the use of cosmetics and unique pigments used throughout the years, including the monumental hairstyles in the time of Henry IV. In the nineteenth century, the first cologne made its appearance and the early twentieth century saw the first synthetic hair dye. All of this is represented in the exhibition, which also anticipates how the concept of beauty will evolve in the future.

Download the exhibition brochure at this link:  http://issuu.com/museoevolucion/docs/folleto_belleza Exhibition photos at this link: http://pinterest.com/11meh/la-belleza-una-b%C3%BAsqueda-sin-fin/ Exhibition's video at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnIXkWNe7U8&feature=youtu.be  

The Jewel of the Silo

The temporary exhibition 'La Joya del Silo' (The Jewel of the Silo), co-produced by Grupo Espeleológico Edelweiss (GEE) and the MEH, in collaboration with the Museum of Burgos, helped to spread awareness of lesser known cavities in the karst complex of the Sierra de Atapuerca and to hold the 60th anniversary of the GEE. It was inaugurated on July 19th 2011 and remained open until September 25th. Through texts, photographs, drawings and recreation, visitors were introduced to the world of caves and caving, but also to exceptional findings, since the gold bracelet was shown for the first time, which was found in 2004 by a team that was working inside the karst. Atapuerca's inexhaustible capacity for surprise is symbolized in this mysterious jewel found in the Sala del Caos (Room of Chaos) which dates from the end of the Bronze Age (the XII-X centuries BC) and is framed within the group called 'Villena-Estremoz'. The cultural significance of these pieces is subject to several assumptions, related to the extraction of and trade in certain commodities. The exhibition is divided into four areas (Speleological context, Research context, Archaeological context and The place, the finding) in which they provide data to understand what the cave of the Silo is like, the interventions it had, its meaning within the maze of galleries that make up the karst, and what hypotheses are being considered based on its occupation by hominids that inhabited the Sierra 3,500 years ago. In this link you can see several pictures http://goo.gl/IPFxY

The Burnt Forest

'El Bosque Quemado' (The burnt forest) is the ninth temporary exhibition of the Museum of Human Evolution since its opening. It reflects on the importance of forests for people, and of fire in the course of human evolution, so, the exhibition is part of the museum's discourse itself. The sample was based primarily on visual display elements–for which there has been collaboration from the EFE agency and the Environment Classroom from Caja de Burgos–and features materials such as devastated soils, burnt trunks or use of the coal cellars. This has been achieved with the collaboration of the Office of Development and Environment and the municipalities of Retuerta, Fresno de Rodilla and Solarana, as well as the Provincial Council. The aim of all this is that the exhibition visitor experiences diverse sensations, in addition to visual information. The Museum also has its permanent exhibition dedicated to the specific field of fire. The control of fire goes back over 800,000 years, although there are traces of its use in Kenya from 1.5 million years ago. In 2012, up to September, there were 14,050 fires in Spain, affecting a total area of about 189,321 hectares (according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment). According to the WWF conservation association, which also collaborates in the exhibition, 60 percent of these incidents have affected important protected areas. The exhibition is divided into seven small blocks: Iberian forests. Biodiversity. The inhabited forest. Fire, a milestone in evolution. Fires in 2012, images to remember. Fire: uses and advantages. The forest as an artistic inspiration (through Miguel Angel Blanco's book-cases and Eduardo Nave's photographs).  

The exhibition was produced by the team of the Museum of Human Evolution Collaborating entities: Forest Stewardship Council www.fsc.es

WWF www.wwf.es

You can see photos of the exhibition by clicking this link http://goo.gl/0Clnp  

The art of the light. Vale do Côa Siega Verde

Co-produced by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Regional Government Castilla y León and the Ministry of Culture of Portugal, this exhibition brought us closer to discovering the outdoor rock art ensembles of the Côa Valley (Portugal) and Siega Verde (Salamanca), the most important open-air engravings of the Iberian Peninsula. The Siega Verde Cave Art Station, located at the western end of the province of Salamanca, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2010, as an extension of the Côa Valley Cave Art Sites, which already had this recognition since 1998. These remains of rock art are the two most important open-air Paleolithic art sites in Western Europe. These artistic manifestations, dated between the years 22,000 and 11,000 BC, are one of the first examples of symbolic creation and the beginning of the cultural development of humanity. This art can be called 'The art of light' as opposed to those found inside caves. The exhibition, which was held at the MEH from mid-February to the end of May 2011, included large-format photographs, explanatory texts and interactive resources so that the public could understand the location, the relationship with the river courses, the techniques used and the species reproduced in these artistic manifestations. It was a journey through the unique nature of these engravings that constitute an exceptional sample of the creative genius at the beginning of the cultural development of the first ancestor of mankind.

Why R-Evolución?

The temporary exhibition '¿Por qué R-Evolución?' (Why R-Evolution?), produced by the MEH, sought to recognize the role that Atapuerca and Human Evolution had in the Burgos 2016 candidacy as 'European Capital of Culture'. Inaugurated on June 28, 2011, it allowed visitors to see for a month the main lines of the cultural programmes for Burgos' candidacy, which started a common project to rediscover and reinvent itself as a city open to talent and innovation. The design of the exhibition was very visual and educational so that Burgos residents and visitors to the Museum could view simple information on the strengths of Burgos' candidacy. In various panels, opinions could be read from the artistic director of the Burgos 2016 bid, Mary Miller, from the writer Oscar Esquivias, or from the co-director of the Atapuerca Research Team, Juan Luis Arsuaga. The exhibition highlighted our individuality in Europe: the importance and international relevance of human evolution in Atapuerca; being the home of the Spanish language; the relevance of the Camino de Santiago in the future of the city; the contrast between the historic city and its recent urban growth; the diversity and richness of the natural habitat.

THE DIET THAT MADE US HUMAN

This temporary exhibition, curated by Ana Mateos and Jesús Rodríguez, from the CENIEH, with the collaboration of the Tomás Pascual-Sanz-CENIEH Chair, was based on the evolutionary process and adaptation of the nutrition of the human species. The exhibition, which remained at the MEH from December 2010 to April 2011, was divided into several areas: The dining room-restaurant was the entrance to the exhibition and piqued the public's interest by introducing a game of questions/answers about habits/food. The Kitchen of Knowledge answered the question of how we know what our ancestors ate and how the diet has changed. In addition, the relationship between diet and genetics, the causes of food intolerances or the reason why we like fatty foods were explained. We were also able to delve into the world of flavours or discover the importance of fire in food or how we adapted our tools. Finally, visitors could experience The Diet that Made Us Human, the true star of the exhibition, where the diets of our most distant ancestors and of various species such as the Neanderthals, who were the ones who began to include a variety of foods in their diet, or Homo Sapiens, which included a multitude of animal, vegetable and sea foods, were demystified. The reasons related to cannibalism were also explained through findings from the Sierra de Atapuerca sites. Visitors were able to discover in an interesting tour -through videos, panels and tools- the dietary changes that hominids have undergone to adapt to changes in the climate and the environment, one of the keys to human evolution and how their technology helped improve their nutrition.

DARWIN ACCORDING TO DARWIN. THE WORK OF CHARLES DARWIN TOLD BY HIMSELF.

The Museum of Human Evolution recognises Darwin as a prominent figure, but his legacy goes beyond any limit and can be read in many different ways. One of them is embodied in this exhibition, whose inspirations are Juan-Luis Arsuaga and Milagros Algaba, consisting of extracting a compelling line of reasoning from Darwin's own books and accompanying it with small objects from the scientific cabinet that illustrate the broad horizon of his reflections. The invaluable collaboration of the Complutense University of Madrid, the Wild Fauna Museum (León) and the Natural History Museum (IES Cardenal López de Mendoza, Burgos) gives the exhibition a level of excellence that encourages us, as an outreach science museum, to work along the same lines, turning outreach into an enticing form of learning.

You can see photos of the exhibition here http://goo.gl/yb3JS