The Atapuerca Mountains are in Burgos (Spain). These mountains are very famous because they contain several caves where fossils and stone tools have been found.
The sites in this area were found during the construction of railway. They could observe that there were many fossils in the area. First scientific expediton started in 1910 but the most important dicoveries for the human evolution started from 1964 with Francisco Jordá Cerdá and they still continue today under the supervision of Arsuaga and Carbonell.
Since 1910, we have found many things like ceramic remains from the Neolithic Age to Roman Empire, rock paintings, stone tools and human skulls and bones, but the most important discovers are:
Miguelon's skull (400.000 years old)
It was discovered in 1992 and it is the most complete skull from of an homo heidelbergensis, which is considered as the direct ancestor of homo neanderthalensis.
Miguelon was a thirty years old man, and he was found in a cave where there were many bones, which indicates that may be burials.
Homo antecessor (from 1,2 million to 800.000 years)
Eduald Carbonell, Arsuaga and Bermudez de Castro found in Gran Dolina a maxilla that belonged to a 10-years-old man. The discovery was so important because it belonged to a new species man: an ancestor of homo heidelbergensis.
The homo antecessor is known like the first European man.
Last researches have proved that homo antecessor could make tools one million years ago, according to remains found in Sima del Elefante. In addition, Atapuerca's anthropologist have found many evidences of burials in Sima de los Huesos and one of the most important and fine stone tool ever found: Excalibur.
Away from being a simple stone tool, Excalibur could be seeing as a ritual object. If it would be thruth, Atapuerca had been the most ancient religious place in human history.
Anthropologists not only had found skulls as Miguelón o Benjamina, they have found Elvis, a complete pelvis and in 2007 they dug up new evidences as a jawbone and a proximal phalanx.
Atapuerca have showed us many interesting things about these first Europeans. Maybe the most amazing discover is related with their life style. Were they cannibal? According to what they have found, some human bones had cuts, which indicates that they could be eaten by another Homo antecessor.
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