Educational Miniguides - Museum of Human Evolution (Burgos, Spain)

MEH educational mini-guides

MEH educational mini-guides.

Coordinators: Rodrigo Alonso Alcalde and Alejandro N. Sarmiento Carrión.

Authors: Rodrigo Alonso Alcalde, Alejandro N. Sarmiento Carrión, Andrés Abajo González, Ana Álvarez Fernández, Marta Cuesta González, Rodrigo de la Muñoza Sáez, Laura Juez Aparicio, Raúl López García, Celia Mahave Cano, Silvia Manzanal García, Sergio Moral del Hoyo, Santiago Paniego Alonso, Miguel Ángel Pérez Moral, Óscar Puente Rodríguez, Silvia Santamaría Alonso, Mercedes Serrano González.

Translator: Butler Susannah

Bibliographic reference: Alonso Alcalde, R., Sarmiento Carrión, A. (Coords.). 2021. MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León. Valladolid.

First edition: March 2021.

Design and layout: M de Martola.

Editing: Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Digital edition at: www.museoevolucionhumana.com

ISBN: 978-84-92572-95-3

Legal deposit: VA 302-2021

1

Cuesta, M., Alonso, R. 2021. “The Sierra de Atapuerca. Geology”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 6-14.

2

Álvarez, A., Alonso, R. 2021. “Gran Dolina”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 15-23.

3

Mahave, C., Alonso, R. 2021. “Complejo Galería”. En R. Alonso (coord.) MEH educational mini-guides.. Museo de la Evolución Humana, Junta de Castilla y León: 24-28.

4

Álvarez, A., Alonso, R. 2021. “Sima del Elefante”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 29-35.

5

Abajo, A., Alonso, R. 2021. “Sima de los Huesos”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 36-44.

6

Moral, S., Alonso, R. 2021. “Neanderthals in Atapuerca”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 45-52.

7

Juez, L., Alonso, R. 2021. “El Portalón of Cueva Mayor”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 53-60.

8

Moral, M., Alonso, R. 2021. “Cueva del Mirador”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 61-66.

9

Serrano, M., Juez, L., Alonso, R. 2021. “La Galería del Sílex”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 67-73.

10

Cuesta, M., Alonso, R. 2021. “From excavation to laboratory”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 74-82.

11

Paniego, S., Alonso, R. 2021. “Darwin and the theory of evolution”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides.. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 83-91.

12

López, R., Alonso, R. 2021. “The evidence for evolution”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 92-106.

13

Abajo, A., de la Muñoza, R., Moral, S., Alonso, R. 2021. “Human evolution”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides.. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 107-148.

14

Paniego, S., Alonso, R. 2021. “The brain”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 149-159

15

Santamaría, S., Moral, S., Alonso, R. 2021. “Santiago Ramón y Cajal”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 160-169.

16

Pérez, M.A., Moral, S., Alonso, R. 2021. “Technological evolution”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 170-178.

17

Mahave, C., Moral, S., Alonso, R. 2021. “Fire”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 179-185.

18

Manzanal, S., Puente, O., Alonso, R. 2021. “Hunters and gatherers of the Pleistocene”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 186-193.

19

Manzanal, S., Puente, O., Alonso, R. 2021. “Early burials”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 194-205.

20

Manzanal, S., Juez, L., Alonso, R. 2021. “Portable art”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 206-212.

21

López, R., Moral, S., Alonso, R. 2021. “Speech and music”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 213-223

22

De la Muñoza, R., Moral, S., Alonso, R. 2021. “Rock art”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 224-231.

23

Pérez, M. A., Moral, S., Alonso, R. 2021. “Neolithic”. En R. Alonso y A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León. Valladolid: 232-238.

Educational mini-guides

The Sierra de Atapuerca. Geology

Cuesta, M., Alonso, R. 2020. “The Sierra de Atapuerca. Geology ”. In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 6-14.

Panoramic shot of the Sierra de Atapuerca. © Photography by José Manuel Ballester. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The Sierra de Atapuerca. Geology.

Location

The Sierra de Atapuerca mountain range is a light rocky spur of little more than 1000 m in altitude which lies about 15 km from the city of Burgos. Located in the Bureba corridor, a natural corridor that links the Ebro and Duero basins, it becomes an almost obligatory place of passage for both humans and animals.

Did you know…?

The strategic location of the mountain range has meant that it was not only used in prehistoric times, but also in historical times, as a Roman road, the Camino de Santiago, passes close by and now national roads such as the N-1 and the N-120.

In 2000, it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, due to the exceptional nature of the paleoanthropological findings at its sites.

Location of the Atapuerca Mountain Range. © www.google.es/maps

The Sierra de Atapuerca. Geology.

Why did the hominins stay in the Sierra?

Because the Sierra de Atapuerca had all the resources they needed to live.

RESOURCES OF THE SIERRA DE ATAPUERCA

WATER PLANT AND ANIMAL RESOURCES LITHIC RESOURCES CAVES

Water: Near the Sierra there are three rivers: the Arlanzón, the Vena and the Pico, and there were also lagoons at that time.

Plant and animal resources: The riverside forests and meadows have provided abundant plant and animal resources over time.

Lithic resources: There is an abundance of raw materials such as flint and quartzite that they used to create technology, lithic instruments.

Caves: Caves enabled human groups to settle.

To start talking about the formation of this mountain range we have to start about 65 million years ago when the Sierra was a sea bed, since there was a sea here that linked the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. It is at this point that the limestone of the Sierra begins to form from the calcium carbonate in shells and seashells. But we have to wait until 25 million years ago for the mountain range to emerge due to the elevation caused by the collision of tectonic plates.

Do you know how and when the Sierra de Atapuerca was formed?

The Sierra de Atapuerca. Geology.

In a shallow Cretaceous sea, 90 million years ago, the limestones of the Sierra de Atapuerca were deposited.

Between 65 and 15 million years ago, the collision of the tectonic plates formed the mountain ranges, delimiting the Duero depression.

After the last tectonic movements, this depression was filled with sediment.

The depression opened to the Atlantic Ocean and rivers began to carve out the valleys. The filtered water dissolved the limestone forming the system of galleries where the deposits are located. Between 1.3 million years and 800,000 years ago, the first hominins arrive in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Homo antecessor)

600,000 years ago a new species (pre-Neanderthals) occupied this territory.

Neanderthals also lived in the caves of the Sierra. From 30,000 years ago onwards, the last groups of hunters and gatherers settled in the upper part of the Sierra.

From the Neolithic period, human groups began to domesticate plants and animals and became farmers and shepherds. From then, the Sierra and its surroundings have always been occupied.

Chart based on the International Commission on Stratigraphy. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Roman road. © www.educa.jcyl.es

A Roman road passes near the Sierra, the Via de Italia a Hispania or Via Aquitana.

The Sierra de Atapuerca. Geology.

Atapuerca in history

Battle of Atapuerca. © www.turismoburgos.org

From the Middle Ages along with agriculture and livestock, the limestone rock of the Sierra was exploited for construction. In 1054 the Battle of Atapuerca took place, a battle that is still reenacted every year to this day.

Camino de Santiago. © www.clubfuentescarrionas.blogspot.com.es

The Camino de Santiago as it passes through the surroundings of the Sierra de Atapuerca.

The adventures of Tadeo Jones. © www.cinedor.es Portrait of Emperor Carlos V. © www.coleccionbbva.com

In the Modern Age, Carlos V, together with the Abbess of Las Huelgas, also visited the caves.

In 1896 a mining railway was built that divided part of the Sierra, revealing the sediments with fossils that filled the caves.

Currently we are working on 8 sites, some of which can be visited.

Photograph of the mining railway. © www.atapuerca.tv

Karst of the Sierra de Atapuerca.

Edelweiss Speleological Group.

The word karst is a German toponym of the arid Kras region of Slovenia, known worldwide for its orography. It is a territory of limestone plateaus where rainwa ter seeps quickly, dissolves the rock and forms conduits through which mighty underground rivers run.

By extension, the adjective karst defines those landscapes of similar morphol ogy.

Škocjan Karst System.

The Škocjan Caves are a limestone cave system in the Kras (Karst) region, with around 5 km of underground passages, with caves over 20 meters deep and several waterfalls. It is one of the best places in the world to study karst phe nomena. In 1986, UNESCO included them in the list of World Heritage Sites.

In Spain this type of relief is widely represented in the so-called limestone Spain, such as: El Torcal de Antequera (Málaga), the Monasterio de Piedra in Zaragoza and the Rudrón valley (Burgos) among others.

The karst of the Sierra de Atapuerca

The Sierra de Atapuerca has a karst complex extending about 3700 m. We mustn’t forget that the Sierra is formed of limestone rock and this dis solves with water. It was carved out over thousands of years by the passage of groundwater from the Arlanzón River, thus creating this whole complex of caves and galleries.

Later, when the water level dropped, the river would gradually leave these cav ities, leaving a series of terraces to its current location. About a million years ago, the network of caves was opened to the outside, and was occupied by both animals and humans at different times.

The Sierra de Atapuerca. Geology.

The Sierra de Atapuerca is a karst complex, but where does that word come from?

Škocjan Karst System.

Roman road.

The Sierra de Atapuerca. Geology.

Types of cavities in Atapuerca

1Torca or sinkhole

These formations originate from the sinking or collapse of the ceiling of channels and cavities due to the dis solution of the rock and the law of gravity.

2 Gallery

These channels are branches of the underground rivers, starting at the point where the water enters and ending at the point where it exits, on the side of the mountain.

3

Pit

A pit is a vertical cavity that may or may not open to the outside through a well or channel or on a steep slope, caused by dissolution of calcareous rock.

Torca or sinkhole.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Gallery.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Pit.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

MEH resource, scope 1. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The Sierra de Atapuerca. Geology.

History of discoveries

First publication on the Atapuerca Caves 1868.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

From left to right. Emiliano Aguirre, Eudald Carbonell, José María Bermúdez de Castro and Juan Luis Arsuaga. © https://elcorreodeburgos.elmundo.es

The caves of the Sierra de Atapuerca have always been visited, especially Cue va Mayor, which is the entrance to the karst system. Legends have always aris en around the caves, as confirmed by medieval documentation.

"VISITORS" OVER TIME:

- 1527, the court of Carlos V and the Abbess of Las Huelgas

- More noteworthy is the news of the arrival of an Italian adventurer who was looking for a treasure inside, some years later.

- 18th century, a more systematic exploration of the caves by the enlightened Francisco de Paula, priest of Rubena (town near the caves). It was at this time that the first sites were discovered, including the Sima de los Huesos, although they were not valued as they are today.

- Throughout the XIX century, Prehistory emerged as a discipline. Felipe de Ariño and Ramón Inclán, supported by José Martínez Rives, ask that these sites be protected and researched.

- First publication on the Atapuerca caves by Pedro Sampayo and Mariano Zuaznávar in 1868.

- In the early 20th century, the archaeologists Carballo, Breüil and Obermaier, attracted by the previous publication, would bring international recognition to these sites.

The Edelweiss Speleological Group discovered the sites of the Trinchera del Ferrocarril Minero in 1962 and the Galería del Sílex in 1972.

- Research by Jordá, Apellaniz and Torres

- In 1978, research was continued by Emiliano Aguirre, founder of the current Atapuerca Research Team.

- Currently, research is co-led by Juan Luis Arsuaga, José María Bermúdez de Castro and Eudald Carbonell.

Cenozoic: Geological era that extends from about 66 million years ago to the present day. It includes the Paleogene, Neogene and Quaternary periods. Its name comes from the Greek and means "new animals."

Cretaceous: Last period of the Mesozoic era, spanning from 144 million years ago to about 66 million years ago. It is characterized by the rise of the great mountain ranges of the Himalayas and the Andes, the appearance of flowering plants and the extinction of dinosaurs.

Flint: A very hard stone formed mainly by silica and that forms very sharp edges when broken.

Gallery: Horizontal channels caused by the dissolution of limestone rock.

Holocene: Most recent epoch of the Quaternary, corresponding to the current interglacial period, which spans the last 11,780 years.

Karst: Landscape created by water erosion on limestone rocks.

The Sierra de Atapuerca. Geology.

Glossary

Limestone: Sedimentary rock formed mainly of calcium carbonate. It is water-soluble.

Mesozoic: Geological era that began 250 million years ago and ended about 66 million years ago. It includes the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The name comes from the Greek and means “intermediate life.”

Neogene: Period that belongs to the Cenozoic era and spans from about 23 million years ago to about 2 and a half million years ago. It includes the Miocene and Pliocene eras.

Paleoanthropology: Science that studies human fossil remains to understand the causes and origin of our species.

Paleogene: Early Cenozoic period from about 66 million years ago to about 23 million years ago. It includes the Paleocene, Eocene and Oligocene epochs.

Pit: Vertical or steeply sloping channel caused by dissolution of limestone rock.

Pleistocene: Oldest epoch of the Quaternary. It spanned between about 2.5 million years ago and about 11,000 years ago. It is divided into three Ages: early, middle and late.

Quaternary: Geological period that covers the last 2.5 million years. It includes the Pleistocene and Holocene eras. Characterised by the appearance of the human being and the alternation of glacial and temperate periods.

Sinkhole or torca: Circular depressions in the ground caused by the subsidence of the land due to the collapse of an old cavity or by infiltration of water at specific points.

UNESCO: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization promotes dialogue between civilizations, cultures and peoples based on respect for common values. It was founded in 1945 and its headquarters are in Paris (France).

World Heritage: Recognition granted by UNESCO to sites of outstanding universal value.

Educational mini-guides

Gran Dolina

Álvarez, A., Alonso, R. 2020. "Gran Dolina". In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 15-23

Forehead and jawbone of Homo antecessor. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Gran Dolina

Gran Dolina is one of the three sites discovered when, at the end of the 19th century, the English company The Sierra Company Ltd. built a mining railway between the towns of Monterrubio de la Demanda and Villafría to transport coal and iron from the Sierra de la Demanda to the north of the peninsula. This route was built to cross the western slope of the Sierra de Atapuerca, creating a large trench 480 meters long and 18 meters high.

Stratigraphic levels of the Gran Dolina site.

Museum of Human Evolution,

Government

The site has 16 metres of sedimentary filling among which up to eleven stratigraphic levels can be distinguished. This cavity opened to the outside 1.5 million years ago and was blocked just 200,000 years ago. Its interior houses more than a million years of information. It has an excavation surface of more than 90 m2 where about forty people work.

Gran

Did you know…?

The initials TD stand for “T” Trinchera and “D” Dolina (‘Sinkhole Trench’), and they are always accompanied by a number that indicates the stratigraphic level.

Gran Dolina

Throughout these levels there are very rich strata of fauna and stone industry, but without a doubt the abundant presence of human remains in level TD6 makes Gran Dolina one of the sites which has provided us with the greatest knowledge of human settlements during the Early Pleistocene in Europe.

Stratigraphy of Gran Dolina. © Diario de Atapuerca.

Diagram of Gran Dolina in TD4.

© Illustration by Jesús. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Throughout the rich stratigraphic column of Gran Dolina, three main levels can be highlighted:

TD4 level

This level is one of the oldest strata in Gran Dolina, with a chronology of more than 900,000 years old. During this period the cavity was connected to the outside through cracks and fissures. Ungulate remains have been found such as: rhinos, giant deer, bison and horses.

At this time carnivores such as jaguars, wolves and hyenas also frequented the cavity, almost certainly using the cave to scavenge.

Rhino skull.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Left hemimandible of a jaguar.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

In the TD4 level there is also evidence of the first human settlements in the cavity. Proof of this are the tools made from quartzite exhibited in the Museum of Human Evolution.

Did you know…?

At the TD4 level, a large number of bear remains belonging to the Ursus dolinensis species have also been found. This extinct species was found for the first time at the Gran Dolina site, where its name comes from. In the 2012 excavation campaign, an almost intact skull was found, which has provided researchers with a wealth of information about this species.

It is likely that these bears used the Gran Dolina cavity to hibernate and not to compete directly with carnivores. During this hiber nation period, the oldest bears would perish, thus leaving an extensive fossil record. Claw marks have also been found on the cave wall.

© www.burgosconecta.es

1. Quartzite core. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

2. Quartzite flake.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

3. Knapped quartzite cobble.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Skull of Ursus dolinensis.

Did you know…?

The Atapuerca Research Team baptised this new spe cies as “antecessor”, a Latin word that means “explor er”, referring to the Roman legions that were the first to conquer territories.

TD6 level

The TD6 level has an approximate chronology of 900,000 years and is, without a doubt, one of the levels that have provided the Atapuerca Research Team (EIA) with the most joy. On July 8, 1994, during a survey of about 6 m2, human remains of about 900,000 years old belonging to the Homo antecessor spe cies were found, making the Sierra de Atapuerca the oldest human settlement on the European continent. Until the discovery of this species, the researchers were convinced that the European continent had been populated 500,000 years ago, so the discoveries at the TD6 level of Gran Dolina moved this settle ment back to almost a million years ago.

What was Homo antecessor like?

All the human remains of Homo antecessor found so far belong to a total of eleven individuals between the ages of three and eighteen. As they are mostly the remains of children and adolescents - individuals who were still of a devel oping age - it is difficult to perfectly identify definitive facial features.

However, the researchers have managed to reconstruct the appearance of these hominins from the cranial remains.

In general, Homo antecessor has primitive features very similar to those of our African ancestors: its forehead is elusive, the supraorbital torus (brow ridge) is marked, and it has larger and more complex teeth than ours. The pattern of dental development is also primitive since they have molars and premolars with a rough chewing surface and many folds of enamel.

However, Homo antecessor also possesses derivative or modern features, such as its flat face, the presence of a canine fossa, and a high cranial capacity of around 1,100 cc, features much more similar to ours. As for their height, these humans would stand between 150 cm and 175 cm tall.

Diagram of Gran Dolina in TD6.

© Illustration by Jesús. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Sculpture of Homo antecessor made by Elisabeth Daynès.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government

Left hemimandible of Homo antecessor. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The cannibalism of Homo antecessor

The oldest evidence of cannibalism in humanity has been found at the TD6 level of Gran Dolina. By studying the cut marks, scientists affirm that a large part of the Homo antecessor individuals found in Gran Dolina were consumed by their peers.

But what are cut marks? They are the traces found on the surface of the bones as a result of the dismemberment, skinning and scraping carried out with stone tools. As hominins are the only animals capable of producing and using this type of tools, whenever cut marks appear on bones they are associated with human consumption. These types of marks are usually found on herbivore bones, so finding these marks on human bones was quite a surprise.

Why did Homo antecessor practise cannibalism?

Cannibalism is not something unique to human beings, since there are other animals that undertake this practice in times of overpopulation, lack of food, etc. However, it is typical of the Homo genus to perform cannibalistic acts for reasons not only related to survival. Thus, throughout the history of mankind, cannibalism of a ritual or religious, warlike or even pathological nature has been documented.

To try to explain the reasons that led Homo antecessor to practice an thropophagy, different hypotheses have been raised. The continued scarcity of resources as a cause of cannibalism is ruled out, since during the Early Pleis tocene the Sierra de Atapuerca was home to a great variety of animals and plants. On the other hand, taking into account the age of the human remains, the practice as part of a ritual does not seem likely either.

The Atapuerca Research Team raises a hypothesis that it has called cultural cannibalism. The Sierra de Atapuerca must have been a strategic place for the life of those hominins, becoming a highly coveted territory. This appeal could have long been a source of tribal confrontation, death and cannibalism. So far,

Gran Dolina

Scanning electron microscope image showing cut marks. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Homo antecessor cannibalism scene. © Illustration by Mauricio Antón. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

most of the remains found in TD6 have been of children and adolescents. This fact suggests, for now, a very particular strategy that can be studied in detail when the excavation of level TD6 is completed.

On the other hand, cannibalised remains have been identified throughout the level, which indicates that this type of behaviour was repeated over time, per haps over several hundreds or thousands of years, thus opening up the possi bility that it was a common cultural practice some 900,000 years ago in the Sierra de Atapuerca.

The lithic technology developed by Homo antecessor manifests itself at the TD6 level in all its glory. They transported many raw materials such as flint, quartzites, sandstones and quartz to the cavity, from the immediate surround ings of about five kilometres. From them they systematically obtained flakes and formed some denticulate tools. The microscopic study of the edges of the instruments shows that these tools were basically used for butchery.

1. Knapped limestone cobble.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

TD10 level

Just over 350,000 years ago part of the ceiling and the walls of the cavity collapsed, causing the cave to have a large entrance. This fact favoured the pre-Neanderthals using this cavity to establish a camp.

There are two great moments of settlement in TD10: TD10-1 and TD10-2. These sub-levels have provided an enormous amount of lithic tools and animal bones, the latter presenting the unmistakable marks that humans left on what was their food. These are cut marks due to the cutting, gutting and skinning of animals, including fractures in the lower limb bones to get to the marrow. Al though all kinds of animals were consumed, the most prevalent are herbivores, such as deer or bison.

Gran Dolina

Diagram of Gran Dolina in TD10.

© Illustration by Jesús.

Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

2. Quartzite flake.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

3. Cretaceous flint denticulate tool.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The other widely represented item at this level are stone tools, made of differ ent raw materials such as flint, quartzite, sandstone or quartz. Their technolog ical mode could be classified as a transition from Mode 2 to Mode 3, which is why we find a wide variety of typologies, such as handaxes, typical of Mode 2, or racloirs, characteristic of Mode 3.

The pre-Neanderthals used this part of the cave either as a base camp or as a temporary shelter. Inside they felt safe to perform activities that required time, such as handling meat, working with hides, wood or even making stone tools and reviving their edges when they became dull.

Gran Dolina

1. Right bison radius with strike marks. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

1. Quartzite handaxe. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

2. Deer left humerus with anthropic fracture marks. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

2. Quartzite point. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

3. Neogene flint flake. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Canine fossa: Depressed surfaces in the maxilla.

Cut mark: Evidence left on the surface of bones by a sharp implement when performing a cutting action.

Derived trait: Part or attribute of an organism that, coming from another, has changed over time and therefore differs from it.

Hibernation: The ability of some animals to go into a dormant state to adapt to the harsh winter weather conditions.

Holotype: Specimen, both animal and plant, used to describe a species and whose morphological characteristics are recorded in a scientific publication.

Lair: A place, usually covered, where animals such as wolves, hyenas, foxes or lions take refuge to have their young and feed.

Marrow: Marrow located inside the bones. It is a whitish food and has a nutritionally rich in fat.

Trait: Part or attribute of an organism that can be described, measured, weighed and counted.

Primitive trait: Part or attribute of an organism that has older features that have not changed despite the passage of time. Primitive trains serve to relate a species to its ancestors.

Sinkhole: Circular depressions in the ground caused by the subsidence of the land due to the collapse of an old cavity or by infiltration of water at specific points.

Supraorbital torus: Prominent bone that some hominids have over the eyes.

Ungulate: Group of placental mammals characterised by walking and standing on the end of their toes.

Gran Dolina

Educational mini-guides

Galería Complex

Excavation in the Galería Complex. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Mahave, C., Alonso, R. 2020. "Galería Complex". In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 24-28

Galería Stratigraphy. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Galería Complex

Alongside Gran Dolina and Sima del Elefante, Galería is one of the sites that was uncovered when, at the end of the 19th century, the construction of a trench to allow a mining railway to pass through split the limestone rock of the Sierra de Atapuerca in two.

The Galería site is an old cavity inside the Sierra de Atapuerca formed of three different sectors: a cave known as Covacha de los Zarpazos (TZ), a wide horizontal gallery (TG) and a vertical channel with a chimney (TN). Throughout the 12 metres of sedimentary filling of the cave, six stratigraphic units have been differentiated, of which layers II, III and IV provide a great deal of information about the habits of humans who lived in the Sierra de Atapuerca 300,000 years ago.

Galería, a trap inside the Sierra de Atapuerca.

It seems that the inside of the cave was open to the outside through two different areas:

• On the one hand, more than 350,000 years ago, part of the ceiling of the cave collapsed, leading to the interior with a vertical chimney (TN). Occasionally, animals that roamed outside would fall into the cave through this hole. This roof section was similar to an uncovered manhole, but larger, hence, it functioned as a trap.

• The second access to the cave was a small narrow space that would open in what we now know as Covacha de los Zarpazos (TZ). Humans and carnivores entered inside the cave through this place in search of the food provided by the animals that had fallen through the vertical channel.

Seeing the access to the cave, as well as the presence of dangerous animals inside, scientists have ruled out that the cave was a suitable place to establish a human camp.

Galería Complex

Evidence has also been found in the Galería that this cave was not only a nat ural trap where food could be found relatively easy, but that at other times it was also a place used by other animals for different activities.

Did you know…?

Thanks to the bat droppings or guano deposited in the lower levels of the site, the researchers know that these were the first occupants of the cave.

Bats inside a cave.

Drawing of a bear paw.

Other inhabitants of this cave were bears, who entered the cave through the mouth, leaving evidence of their presence in the Covacha de los Zarpazos. In this area, bears (Ursus deningeri) sharpened their claws on the walls, leaving paw prints.

Carnivores went into the caves relatively frequently. At Galería, there are also remains of lynx (Lynx pardinus) and lion (Panthera leo)

Lynx jaw bone.

One of the methods that experts use to determine the age of the mammals found in the sites is by observing the development of their teeth and the wear and tear produced by the chewing process. In the case of Galería, the vast ma jority of herbivores found here are either immature or very old.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

© Illustration by Eduardo Saiz. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Hemimandible of a lion.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Immature deer hemimandible. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. In the vast majority of cases, the complete skeletons of these herbivores are not found, but only the skulls, ribs and vertebrae appear. In addition, cut marks appear on these remains, indicating human activity. It can be deduced that the hominins dismembered the animals here, with the help of the handaxes, hammerstones and racloirs that have been found at the site. The parts with the most meat would be eaten in safer places, such as the camp found at the Gran Dolina site.

Did you know…?

Human remains belonging to the pre-Neanderthal species have also been found at the Galería site. Perhaps these human remains were brought into the cavity by a carnivore.

1. Quartzite handaxe. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile a nd Leon.

2. Quartzite racloir. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

3. Quartzite hammerstone. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile a nd Leon.

Hemimandible fragment with pre-Neanderthal molars. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Glossary

Acheulean: Mode of production of lithic industry typical of the Lower Paleolithic. This period is characterised by the production of handaxes and cleavers.

Covacha: Small cave.

Gallery: Horizontal channels caused by the dissolution of limestone rock.

Guano: Layer formed by bat droppings. It accumulates in caves where these animals shelter during the day.

Hammerstone: Instrument used to work cores and/or flakes. They are generally in the form of a round rock or pebble. They are the most common stone hammers during the Paleolithic.

Handaxe: Tool knapped on both sides to achieve a bilaterally symmetrical tool, with two cutting edges that meet at one point. In Africa the oldest handaxes are 2.5 million years old, while in Europe 600,000-year-old handaxes have been found.

Herbivorous: Animal that eats plants.

Hibernation: The ability of some animals to go into a dormant state to adapt to the harsh winter weather conditions.

Mouth: Characteristic formation of karst systems. It refers to narrow ducts that, in this case, lead from the inside of a cave to the outside.

Pleistocene: Oldest period of the Quaternary. It spanned between about 2.5 million years ago and about 12,000 years ago. It is divided into three Ages: early, middle and late. It is characterised by the alternation of glacial and interglacial periods. The Pleistocene corresponds to the period known as the Paleolithic in archaeology.

Sedimentation: Process of accumulation of the different layers of earth that form an archaeological site.

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Sima del Elefante

Mandible of Homo sp. TE9. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Álvarez, A., Alonso, R. 2020. “Sima del Elefante” In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 29-35

Sima del Elefante stratigraphy. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Sima del Elefante

The Sima del Elefante

The Sima del Elefante (‘Pit of the Elephant’) is the largest cave of all those located in the Trinchera del Ferrocarril (‘Railroad Trench’). It measures approximately 25 m high and 15 m wide. Throughout its 25 m height, of which 7 are below the current ground level, up to fifteen stratigraphic levels can be distinguished, which can be used to discover what the climate, fauna and flora of the Sierra de Atapuerca were like from over 1.5 million years ago to 200,000 years ago. Of all these levels, undoubtedly the most important is TE9, since 1.2 million year-old human fossils have been recovered in this layer.

Did you know…?

The name Sima del Elefante is due to a discovery that took place more than twenty years ago, when fossil fragments were located that were attributed to an elephant at the time. Today we now know that those remains actually belonged to a rhinoceros. However, in the upper levels of the 300,000-yearold site an astragalus, a foot bone, belonging to an elephant has been found.

Sima del Elefante

Chronologically, three significant moments can be distinguished in the Sima del Elefante:

• Between 1.5 and 1 million years ago.

• 780,000 years ago.

• 300,000 years ago.

Between 1.5 and 1 million

The oldest levels of this cavity, which go from TE7 to TE14, features the most outstanding point of the site: TE9. Several human remains were recovered in this level, specifically a jaw fragment, several teeth, a humerus fragment and a phalanx. These remains are dated at 1.2 million years, therefore they are, along side the tooth found in Barranco de León (Granada), the oldest human remains recorded in all of Western Europe. The scarcity of human remains that are this old here and at other European sites makes it difficult to associate them with another known species or define them as a new species. For this reason, these human fossils bear the provisional name Homo sp.

Diagram of Sima del Elefante 1.2 million years ago.

© Illustration by Jesús. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Sima

Along with the human remains, some lithic tools made of flint corresponding to Technological Mode 1 or Oldowan have also been found. In addition, at the same level, there are also bones belonging to animals such as deer and bison that have cut marks and fractures, as a result of having been struck to extract the marrow, indicating that they were consumed by humans.

Did you know…?

Before finding the 1.2 millionyear-old human remains, lithic tools from this time period were found. This surprise revealed a much older human settlement than previously imagined.

Thanks to studies on pollen and seeds and the large amount of animal remains recovered in the Sima del Elefante, we can learn how the landscape and climate of the Sierra de Atapuerca have evolved. In the lower levels of the cave there is a considerable presence of oaks, gall oaks and holm oaks, which is evidence of a climate not unlike our current cli mate. However, the appearance of species such as wild olive and hackberry indicate that the temperatures were somewhat higher. The presence of animals such as hippos, beavers, otters and ospreys tell us about wetter conditions than at present. Lagoons and large wetlands were almost certainly formed near the current location of the sites. On the other hand, the presence of horse, fallow deer and bison indicate wooded areas, surely oak groves, but of an open type in the form of a pasture. Macaques and wild boars show that there were very dense scrub areas.

Premolar of Homo sp. (TE9).

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Cretaceous flint flake. (TE9).

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Cretaceous flint flakes with retouching at the edge. (TE9).

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The Sierra de Atapuerca 1.2 million years ago. © Illustration by Eduardo Saiz. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Resources at the MEH

del

years ago.

Levels 15, 16 and 17 are part of the beginning of the so-called Phase II of the Sima del Elefante. Curiously, at these levels there is no archaeological material, that is, there are no remains of humans, or their tools, not even animals. This fact is due to the fact that at that time there was a great flow of water from inside the cave system towards the out side, which meant that the cav ity was flooded and that the water run-off would car ry any remains that might have been deposited out of the cavity.

Diagram of Sima del Elefante 1,000,000 years ago.

© Illustration by Jesús. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Sima

300,000 years ago.

A significant amount of horse remains have been found at the highest levels of the Sima del Elefante (TE18 and TE19), some of which show signs of having been eaten by hominins. Considering the morphology of the cave at that time, it is very likely that it functioned as a natural trap for horses. Furthermore, at these same levels, a transitional lithic industry has been found between Mode 2 (Acheulean) and Mode 3 (Mousterian).

Along with the remains of horses, there are also remains of deer, fallow deer, wolves, hyenas, bears and even elephant remains.

Plants such as hackberry appear once more in the upper levels of the Sima del Elefante, again indicating a warmer environment than the current one. However, the former wetlands disappear, giving way to a drier climate. The presence of beavers and the ancestors of the current wa ter voles indicate the prox imity of the Arlanzón River, whose banks were popu lated by ash trees and wil lows. There is also evidence of holm oaks, gall oaks and oaks. The latter almost cer tainly formed open forests where deer, rhinos and some groups of mammoths lived.

Diagram of Sima del Elefante 300,000 years ago. © Illustration by Jesús. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The Sierra de Atapuerca 300,000 years ago. © Illustration by Fernando Fueyo. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Glossary

Acheulean: Mode of production of lithic industry typical of the Lower Paleolithic. This period is characterised by the production of handaxes and cleavers.

Cut mark: Evidence left on the surface of bones by a sharp implement when performing a cutting action.

Fallow deer: A type of cervid that is distinguished from the common deer by having a smaller size, webbed antlers and a reddish-brown fur colour and white spots in spring and summer.

Hackberry: Deciduous tree that usually grows in isolation, without forming forests. It is typical of temperate climates.

Macaque: A genus of primate that includes a large number of species. It is the only type of primate, other than modern humans, that has been able to surpass the limits of the tropics.

Mousterian: Production of lithic tools during the Middle Paleolithic. It is characterised by the production of small flakes resulting from very diverse working systems. Typical of this period are racloirs, denticulate tools, scrapers, notches or points.

Mustelid: A family of small carnivorous mammals. They can live both on land and in water. Badgers, martens or otters are some examples of mustelids.

Oldowan: Mode of production of lithic tools belonging to the Lower Palaeolithic. It is characterised by working tools on the edges where the aim is to obtain a sharp edge.

Pit: Vertical or steeply sloping channel caused by dissolution of limestone rock.

Pollen: Name given to the grains that seed plants produce. Each plant species has a characteristic and easily identifiable morphology.

Shrew: Small insectivorous mammals with a similar appearance to mice. They have a long, pointed snout, very small eyes, and very long tails. They live in burrows.

Wild olive: Wild olive tree that can live in all types of soils. This is a species that withstands heat very well, however it is very sensitive to cold, which is why it is a good climatic indicator.

Educational mini-guides

Sima de los Huesos

Reconstruction of the population of the Sima de los Huesos 430,000 years ago.

© Illustration by Mauricio Antón.

Abajo, A., Alonso, R. 2020. “Sima de los Huesos” In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 36-44

Resources at the MEH

At the Museum of Human Evolution there is a 1:1 scale recreation of part of the Sima de los Huesos site.

The Sima de los Huesos

The complex of underground galleries within the Sierra de Atapuerca has served as a shelter for the different species of hominins that have lived in West ern Europe since over 1.2 million years ago to present day. Inside one of the chambers, the Sima de los Huesos (‘Pit of Bones’), thousands of human re mains have been found, at least 29 individuals who died 430,000 years ago, attributed to a species earlier than the Neanderthals (pre-Neanderthals). This site is the largest deposit of human fossils from the Pleistocene in the world.

How do you get to the Sima de los Huesos?

Getting to the site is not easy. In fact, from the current access to Cueva Mayor through the site of El Portalón until you actually reach the Sima, you would have to go through about 500 metres of galleries, some of which are very nar row and winding, to end up descending through a 15-metre deep chimney that would lead to a small chamber of about 8 m2, known as the Sima de los Huesos.

The low level of oxygen in the interior, combined with a temperature of only 13° C and a humidity level of 95%, make the excavation conditions at the Sima one of the harshest of all the sites at Atapuerca.

1:1 scale reproduction of part of the Sima de los Huesos site.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Passing through the Cueva Mayor mouth. © Javier Trueba/Madrid Scientific Films.

What were the humans of the Sima de los Huesos like?

Without a doubt, the great protagonists of this site are humans, in particular one of the species that lived in Europe some 430,000 years ago known as pre-Neanderthals. The small space occupied by the site has seen the largest number of human fossils on the planet; more than 7,500 fossils belonging to at least 29 individuals of both sexes and different ages. Today it is the best known species in the history of human evolution, and we can find out practi cally everything about what these individuals were like.

Height. Through the length of the bones of their limbs such as the tibia and the humerus we can know that their height would be around 1.75 m.

Weight. The study of the famous Elvis pelvis, which belonged to a man of about 45 years of age and whose technical name is pelvis 1, has shown that the humans of the Sima were stronger and larger than us. In the case of this individual, he would be around 100 kg of pure muscle.

Birth. The wide birth canal of this male individual’s pelvis, similar to that of a modern woman, is particularly noteworthy. It's conceivable that women of this species would have an even larger birth canal. We can therefore deduce that 430,000 years ago childbirth would have been relatively easier than today.

Face. Skull 5, one of the most complete fossil skulls in the world, shows us exactly what the cranial and facial morphology of this species would be. This skull is popularly known by the name of Miguelón, in honour of the Navarrese cyclist Miguel Indurain.Reconstruction of the "Miguelón" face.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Chronology of the Sima de los Huesos.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Sima de los Huesos

Resources at the MEH

The Museum of Human Evolu tion's collection includes origi nal fossils from the Sima de los Huesos site, considered to be true treasures of paleontology.

Did you know…?

Tiny samples taken from a femur, two teeth and a scapula have made it pos sible to sequence both the mitochon drial DNA and the nuclear DNA of these individuals. It is the oldest DNA ever recovered in a human species, at 430,000 years old.

Inside the room dedicated to the Sima de los Huesos at the Museum of Human Evolution.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

What the humans of the Sima de los Huesos were like.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

Some of the nicknames of the Sima de los Huesos fossils owe their name to kings: Skull 4 Agamemnon, was the king who led the Greek troops in the Trojan War; skull 5 Miguelón, refers to the king of the Tour de France; and the Elvis pelvis, the king of Rock & Roll.

What were the habits of the Sima de los Huesos humans?

The large amount of remains recovered at the Sima de los Huesos site has al lowed researchers to learn about some everyday aspects of the life of pre-Ne anderthals, such as:

Food. The study of the wear on their teeth indicates that uncooked plant foods predominated in the diet of the population of the Sima de los Huesos, repre senting 80% of their diet.

Dental hygiene. The presence of a wear groove produced by habitually using a hard object suggests that they might have used “toothpicks” to clean the spaces between their teeth.

The mouth as a third hand. To cut meat more easily or to tighten hides when tanning, they used to use their mouths. In this way they freed one of their arms that they used to handle tools. Sometimes they struck their teeth, leav ing ridged marks on them. The study of these marks and their orientation has made it possible to determine that they were mostly right-handed.

Pre-Neanderthal tooth with toothpick mark.

© Illustration by Eduardo Saiz. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

What the bones tell us...

In general, the individuals at the Sima de los Huesos were healthy individu als. However, some of the remains found here have been found to have some pathologies that allow us to know what kind of diseases they may have suf fered from.

Skull 5 Miguelón.

This skull belonged to an individual about 35 years old. One of the pos sible causes of his death could be the result of a strong blow received on the left side of his face that caused a fracture in one of his teeth and subse quent infection, which led to general ised septicaemia.

Skull 5 Miguelón.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Sima de los Huesos

Skull 14 Benjamina.

This skull belonged to a girl of about 10 years of age who suffered premature fusion of the skull bones (craniosynostosis). This produced a deformity in her face and an asymmetry in her skull, which probably led to psychomotor prob lems, that is, she may have had difficulty moving and communicating.

Pelvis 1 Elvis.

This pelvis belonged to an elderly adult male. Elvis suffered very significant wear on his lumbar vertebrae due to a displacement of the intervertebral discs (herniated disc) or degenerative wear (spondylolisthesis) of the intervertebral discs, which almost certainly forced him to walk with help, by leaning on a cane for example.

Solidarity in the Sima de los Huesos.

The human fossils found in the Sima have not only provided researchers with scientific support for the knowledge of prehistoric diseases, but they are also an account of the intrahistory of these people. Fossil evidence of individuals who suffered from illness over a prolonged period of their lives supports the existence of a sense of solidarity among these individuals.

Elvis, an elderly man with very limited mobility; Miguelón, an adult who was unable to participate in daily activities for a long time, and Benjamina, a girl in need of special care. All these cases show that within the human group found in the Sima de los Huesos, there was a dynamic of complex social behaviour. It is possible to claim that values such as solidarity and companionship existed.

Skull 14 Benjamina.

© Javier Trueba/Madrid Scientific Films.

Pelvis 1 Elvis.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Elderly individual from the Sima de los Huesos. © Illustration by Fernando Fueyo.

The enigma of the Sima de los Huesos.

How did these humans end up here? Did they accidentally fall in, as the bears that hibernated in the adjoining chambers probably did? These are some of the questions that always come up when talking about the Sima de los Huesos. Scientists do not have a definitive answer to this mystery, although there is no lack of hypotheses:

Perhaps they could have been hunted by a predator and taken there to eat them. But predators usually take only some parts of their prey, that is, severed parts and not complete corpses as they appear in the Sima. The absence of herbivores (other prey) also points in the same direction.

Another possibility is that a natural catastrophe caused the death of a group of pre-Neanderthals, and that the water and mudslides carried the corpses into the Sima.

However, there are many who believe that this accumulation of human fossils in the Sima de los Huesos may be of anthropic origin, an intentional grouping of the corpses of individuals who had died. They might have fallen in, but it's also possible that their own peers might have thrown them there on purpose. But why? Was there an intention? Respect? Maybe it had a ritual component?

Year after year the Sima de los Huesos continues to amaze the world of pale ontology with new finds of human fossils. The surprise came in 1998, when a stone tool appeared between the sediment and the human remains, a red handaxe that has been baptised with the name of Excalibur. This prehistoric axe is the only tool that has been found at the site and is made of a material (red quartzite) that is rare in the area of the sites. Furthermore, it has not been possible to determine that this handaxe has been used.

Would it be a valuable tool for whoever owned it 430,000 years ago? Was it thrown in by someone on purpose? A gesture of respect, of remembrance?

Did you know…?

Skull 17 found in the Sima de los Huesos has two identical perforations on the forehead, possibly due to an intentional attack. This individual died a victim of this aggression and was most likely picked up by his peers, to later be thrown into the Sima.

Excalibur handaxe. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Skull 17. © Javier Trueba/Madrid Scientific Films.

The Sima de los Osos

Although the Sima de los Huesos site is known worldwide for the findings of human remains, the other main protagonists of the site are bears, giving rise to the alternative name “Sima de los Osos” (‘Bear Pit’). Inside the Sima, remains of about 200 bears of the Ursus deningeri species have been found, which inhab ited Europe from 800,000 years ago to about 150,000 years ago.

Resources at the MEH

The Museum of Human Evolution exhibits a life-size sculpture of a bear standing on its hind legs, made by Sonia Cabello, a sculp ture professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Complutense University of Madrid.

Reproduction of Ursus deningeri made by Sonia Cabello.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Sima

CT scan of a bear skull. © Elena Santos UCM-ISCIII / LEH-UBU.

The Sima de los Osos. © Composition of the Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. © Illustration by Jesús. Diario de los Yacimientos de la Sierra de Atapuerca (DYSA).

Glossary

Anthropic: Relating to the human being.

Birth canal: Duct through which the foetus passes during delivery.

Craniosynostosis: Premature fusion of the skull bones.

Herniated disc: Displacement of the intervertebral discs.

Middle Pleistocene: Middle Pleistocene Epoch that extends from 780,000 to 150,000 years ago.

Mudslides: Continuous and rapid flow or fall of viscous materials such as mud or clay.

Paleontology: Science that deals with extinct organic beings from their fossil remains.

Septicaemia: Infection of the bloodstream.

Spondylolisthesis: Degenerative wear of the intervertebral discs.

Educational mini-guides

Neanderthals in Atapuerca

Illustration of a Neanderthal by Eduardo Sáiz.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Moral, S., Alonso, R. 2020. “Neanderthals in Atapuerca". In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 45-52

Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis.

© Illustration by Eduardo Sáiz.

Neanderthals in Atapuerca

There are many sites in the Sierra de Atapuerca mountain range with very dif ferent characteristics and chronologies.

The best known are those located in the Trinchera del Ferrocarril (Railroad Trench) -Sima del Elefante, Galería and Gran Dolina- and inside the karst, the Sima de los Huesos.

But, today, research work includes many other more modern and not so well known places that complete the last million and a half years.

The Atapuerca Research Team (EIA) set itself the goal of “filling in the gaps” on the knowledge of human evolution in Europe in its different fields (biological, technological, geological and paleontological) and trying to shed some light on some of the the most relevant questions in current prehistory: the extinction of Neanderthals and how Homo sapiens changed their way of life from hunt er-gatherers to agriculture and livestock farming.

Trinchera del Ferrocarril.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Sima de los Huesos.

© Javier Trueba MSF.

of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

in

CHRONOLOGY OF THE SITES OF THE SIERRA DE ATAPUERCA

PLEISTOCENE HOLOCENE

EARLY

Sima del Elefante

MIDDLE LATE

Gran Dolina

Galería

Sima de los Huesos

Hundidero Hotel California Galería de las Estatuas Valle de las Orquídeas

To this end, a project was created, divided into two phases, through which an attempt would be made to document the human presence in Atapuerca during the Late Pleistocene, through a review of its surroundings.

Taking into account that the Pleistocene groups were nomadic hunter-gath erers, the open-air space that extends around the Sierra de Atapuerca should, without a doubt, house vestiges of different activities such as hunting, gath ering or collecting raw materials. Something similar occurs with the Holocene sites, whose character is much more sedentary, but which have a large area of land around the Sierra de Atapuerca for their fields, open-air settlements and even burial structures.

The uncertainty regarding the results offered by excavating a cave with hardly any previous data makes this first review indispensable in order to maximise the resources available to the research team.

El Portalón El Mirador Galería del Sílex

PHASE 1: Open-air sites

How are open-air sites located?

Open-air sites are located through an archaeological survey. In this specific case, surveyors searched for archaeological material on the surface in a 10 km radius.

A group of students and graduates from the University of Burgos were re sponsible for reviewing, over several campaigns, the current fields and under growth surrounding the sites of the Trinchera del Ferrocarril to reach a total of 314 square kilometres.

Thanks to this work, almost a hundred sites belonging to other periods and a good number of undetermined sites were located. In addition, more than 30 sites were discovered with evidence of Neanderthal occupation and many more with evidence of Holocene farming and livestock activities. Among the Neanderthal occupation sites, Hundidero, Fuente Mudarra and Hotel Califor nia stand out for their results.

What evidence was found?

The remains found in Atapuerca belonging to the Pleistocene period are lim ited to small and medium-size lithic tools, adapted for cutting, tanning hides or wood working. Meanwhile, those ascribed to the Holocene show us mainly flint utensils dedicated to cultivation work (such as sickle flakes) and hand made pottery fragments that were part of ancient containers.

What evidence has disappeared?

In the open air, it is difficult to preserve bones or other organic elements such as leather, wood or plant components.

Archaeological survey.

© Jesús García.

Flint tool.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Pottery remains.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Sickle flakes.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

PHASE 2: Sites in the caves

How were the sites in the caves discovered?

Cave sites are discovered through an archaeological dig. Among the cave sites of the Sierra de Atapuerca, the Galería de las Estatuas, El Portalón of Cueva Mayor, the Galería del Sílex and El Mirador stand out for their find ings.

In the Iberian Peninsula, as well as in all of Europe, there are many sites be longing to the Middle Pleistocene, the period during which the Neanderthals lived. Despite the small number of sites that have human remains in their collections, we could say that this extinct species is one of the best known, at least from the point of view of prehistory and paleontology.

However, the sites of the Trinchera del Ferrocarril in the Sierra de Atapuerca barely shed light on them, since their most modern archaeological levels do not reach 160,000 years ago. At this time, with the more than thirty open-air sites documented and the location of a cave such as the Galería de las Estat uas, the chances of finding Neanderthal fossils in Atapuerca have increased considerably.

Did you know…?

The word Neanderthal was first proposed by the geologist William King and comes from the German ‘neanderthal’, which means valley (thal in German) of Neander (German composer and theologian named Joaquim Neander). The 1856 fossils were located inside Feldhofer cave, located in the valley near the current city of Düsseldorf, and were first interpreted as belonging to a Russian Cossack who was chasing Napoleon himself across Europe.

Neanderthal remains discovered in Feldhofer cave.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

View of the El Portalón dig. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

The Galería de las Estatuas (Gallery of Statues) takes its name from the set of calcite columns that mark the middle part of its development. These columns are, in turn, the re sult of the union between stalactite and stalagmite formations.

Neanderthals in Atapuerca

Did you know…?

Just 35 km from the Sierra de Atapuerca is the Valdegoba cave, in the Burgos town of Huérmeces. There, a team from the University of Burgos has been excavating for several campaigns, managing to find several human remains of Neanderthals that lived near there about 120,000 years ago.

Galería de las Estatuas

The Galería de las Estatuas is located in one of the branches of the Cueva Mayor – Cueva del Silo karst complex, within the Sierra de Atapuerca.

Since 2008, work has been carried out in this cavity in order to find chron ological levels between 200,000 and 30,000 years old that harbour some possibility of finding Neanderthal remains. We should remember that, so far, the only remains that reveal their presence are restricted to stone tools found in the open-air sites around the Sierra de Atapuerca.

To date, a series of stratigraphic levels have been distinguished whose age seems to be around 50,000 years. The best preserved fauna remains include the teeth of horses, deer and bison, as well as some remains of carnivores such as foxes. This is joined by an important collection of pieces of lithic industry, mainly in flint and quartzite, which due to their technological charac teristics, have been assigned to the cultural tradition of the Neanderthals; the Mousterian.

Their presence inside the cave is confirmed, but will the human fossils them selves appear that would allow us to shed some light on the extinction of such an enigmatic species?

Valdegoba jaw bone. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

General view of the Galería de las Estatuas. © Javier Trueba. MSF.

Did you know…?

With the estimated dimensions for the Cueva Fantasma (30 meters wide and 18 meters deep), at the current rate of excavation, it would take about 300 years to excavate...

in

2017 campaign

A new site, on which great expectations had already been placed since the previous campaign, continues its preparations for excavation in the immediate future: Cueva Fantasma. A few meters from the Trinchera del Ferrocarril, this new cavity is seen as the last jewel of Atapuerca. This recognition was not in vain, as a human parietal fragment collected from the surface has been identi fied as belonging to a Neanderthal. At last, almost forty years after beginning the excavations in this unique sierra, the scientists of Atapuerca can say that they have found their particular missing link: Homo neanderthalensis.

But, as surprises rarely come alone in Atapuerca, on the last day of the 2017 campaign, when the sites were practically packed up and people had started to leave, there was another surprise. A foot phalanx had appeared during the process of washing the sediment from the Galería de las Estatuas. Both its context and its specific anatomical features allow it to be identified as be longing to Homo neanderthalensis.

So it is no longer just one, but two, human remains found of the species that has been so painstakingly sought for decades. And most importantly, they come from different sites, where work has only just begun...

Foot phalanx discovered in the Galería de las Estatuas. © Javier Trueba MSF.

Glossary

Archaeological excavation: Process of analysing the natural and anthropic stratigraphies that accumulate in a certain place in the reverse order to which they have been formed.

Archaeological site: Concentration of remains from the past featuring signs of human activity (bones, tools, structures ...).

Archaeological survey: Field work carried out on the surface in order to identify possible archaeological sites.

Bronze Age: Prehistoric period between the Chalcolithic and the Iron Age (3,800-2,900 years before present day).

Carbon-14: Radioactive isotope present in all organic materials. Its instability and gradual transformation into Nitrogen 14 means that it can be dated very reliably to 45,000 years.

Farmer: Society that produces its food by domesticating species, both animals and plants.

Holocene: Most recent epoch of the Quaternary, corresponding to the current interglacial period, which spans the last 11,780 years.

Hunter-gatherer: Society that bases its survival on obtaining food from the natural environment, without actually depleting it. Hunting-fishing and scavenging are combined to obtain meat and plant foods are gathered.

Sickle flakes: Rectangular elongated blades or flakes that have a serrated edge along one side. Inserted into a wooden handle, they acted like a sickle to mow cultivated fields.

Mousterian: Material culture associated with Neanderthals. The name comes from the Le Moustier site, in the Dordogne region of France.

Neolithic: Period characterised by the development of the productive economy (introduction of arable and livestock farming), sedentary lifestyle and the appearance of the first settlements, the use of polished stone and pottery, and the construction of megalithic monuments. In the Iberian Peninsula their dates range between 7,000 and 4,800 ago.

Nomadic: Person who moves from one place to another without a fixed home.

Pleistocene: Oldest period of the Quaternary. It spanned between about 2.5 million years ago and about 11,780 years ago. It is divided into three Ages: early, middle and late. It is characterised by the alternation of glacial and interglacial periods. The Pleistocene would correspond to the archaeological Paleolithic.

Sedentary: Form of settlement in which groups settle in a place and from that moment consider it their property.

Tumulus: Structure constituted by a pile of earth and stones over one or more burials.

Upper paleolithic: The last of the Paleolithic stages that extends between 35,000 and 10,000 years ago and where our own species, Homo sapiens, is the main protagonist.

Educational mini-guides

El Portalón of Cueva Mayor

Lithograph by Isidro Gil of the entrance to Cueva Mayor. Sampayo, P. y Zuaznávar, M. 1868 “Descripción con planos de la cueva llamada de Atapuerca”. Imp. de Timoteo Arnáiz. Burgos.

Juez, L., Alonso, R. 2020. “El Portalón of Cueva Mayor” In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 53-60

El Portalón of Cueva Mayor

El Portalón of Cueva Mayor

The Sierra de Atapuerca is known worldwide for its Pleistocene sites, in which evidence of human occupation for over a million years has been revealed. How ever, the Sierra de Atapuerca also has other sites with more modern chronolo gies, such as El Portalón, where the presence of human groups that inhabited this cave at least from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages has been documented.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE SIERRA DE ATAPUERCA SITES

PLEISTOCENE

EARLY

Sima del Elefante

MIDDLE LATE

Access and entrance to the El Portalón site.

LEH-UBU.

Gran Dolina Galería Sima de los Huesos

Hundidero Hotel California Galería de las Estatuas Valle de las Orquídeas

El Portalón El Mirador Galería del Sílex

This site is located at the current entrance to the karst system of Cueva May or-Cueva del Silo, located at 1,036 meters of altitude and facing south in the upper part of the mountain range, visually dominating much of the valley of the Arlanzón river. This entrance has not become clogged with sediment and fea tures a powerful stratigraphic sequence that spans almost the entire Holocene and reaches the Late Pleistocene.

Did you know…?

Detail of the horse's head. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

In 1910, the prehistorian J. Carballo discovered the head of an equid painted in ochre colour on one of the walls of this cave. This figure sparked a great debate among scientists about its chronology - Late Paleolithic - and authenticity. Current studies have determined that it is a painting probably made at the beginning of the 20th century.

El Portalón of Cueva Mayor

History

One of the first bibliographical references as a prehistoric site appears at the beginning of the 20th century, which indicates the existence of a habitat sec tor in El Portalón at the entrance and several areas with rock art inside Cueva Mayor. These discoveries led to visits by other great prehistoric researchers who, in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, performed various surveys and excava tions that provided pottery, lithic, and osseous materials, thus confirming the occupation of El Portalón.

Excavations led by J.Mª Apellániz in the ‘80s. © J.Mª Apellániz.

Current excavations

El Portalón of Cueva Mayor constitutes, together with the Cueva de El Mira dor, one of the key points for locating the existence of occupations during the Late Pleistocene. For this reason, in 2000 the Atapuerca team (EIA) decided to resume excavations at this site with the aim of finding evidence for the presence of humans prior to Homo sapiens.

The abundance and variety of materials recovered there indicate the great variety of activities and events that occurred in this exceptional place over time. The best represented moments are the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age, that is, a period of time known as Recent Prehistory and Protohistory.

Excavation campaign at the El Portalón site. © LEH-UBU.

Archaeological intervention at the El Portalón site.

© LEH-UBU.

El

Use of El Portalón over time

Neolithic

During the Neolithic (6,200 - 5,000 BP), small human groups occupied what was then a huge well-lit cavity through the large crevice that gave them access to it. During this time, the cave was used for housing and livestock stabling.

This level was located when emptying the infill of a shaft more than 9m deep, associated with some mining activity of unknown origin and chro nology.

Some materials that come from this level are now considered to be the most characteristic ele ments of the “Interior Ne olithic”, and tell us about the possible relationships that these people had with those of the south of the peninsula.

Materials from the Neolithic level exhibited in the museum.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Bone awl and ring and decorated marble bracelet.

© LEH-UBU.

Recreation of the El Portalón cave during the Chalcolithic.

© Illustration by Dbolit. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

El Portalón of Cueva Mayor

Chalcolithic

During the Chalcolithic period (4400-3900 BP), we can highlight the pres ence of a tumulus (burial mound) structure which confirms the use of El Por talón as a burial site at this time. Human remains, personal items and animal offerings have been recovered from the stones of this structure. This structure can be related to the Atapuerca megalithic complex and other tumuli in the Sierra.

Pollen studies from this site show that 4,000 BP there was extensive vegeta tion in open landscapes with deciduous forests, predominantly hazel (Coryl us), walnut (Junglans) and birch (Betula), indicators of temperate climates.

Above, materials from the Chalcolithic level exhibited in the museum.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

The genomes of eight individuals from the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age found at the El Portalón site have been analysed, most notably the complete skeleton of a boy aged about 7 years old. A comparative study with other genomes already sequenced reveals that the Atapuerca farmers came from a migratory wave that arrived in Europe from the Middle East 7,000 years ago, which mixed with the native populations of hunter-gatherers living in the Peninsula.

Bone remains belonging to a child. El Portalón of Cueva Mayor, Atapuerca.

© LEH-UBU.

Left, recreation of the El Portalón cave during the Chalcolithic. © Illustration by Dbolit. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

El Portalón of Cueva Mayor

Bronze Age

Throughout the Bronze Age (3,800 - 3,300 BP), the cave was heavily occu pied. The space was mainly used for the tasks of daily life.

The Bronze Age levels represent the best known period of the site, hav ing been repeatedly excavated. The great diversity and quantity of cultural material found there indicate the importance of the activities carried out by the human group that controlled the surrounding territory, with El Portalón representing one of the backbones of the area.

Recreation of the entrance to El Portalón during the Bronze Age. © Illustration by Dbolit. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Materials from the Bronze Age levels exhibited in the museum. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

One of the activities that would take place during the Bronze Age is an exclusive phenomenon in the daily life of the people who lived in the cave. This unique event indicates an impor tant ritual in which large numbers of horses were consumed. These bones were deposited on a layer of stones and ash, once a large bonfire, together with votive elements (stone hatchet, bone pendant, buttons and awls) and a large amount of pottery, most notably a single decorated vase.

As for the flora, towards the end of the Bronze Age an increase in aridity is documented, with drier and warmer periods in which scrub vegetation de velops. In addition, human activities caused abrupt changes in the vegetation around the cave, as a result of intentional burning when searching for crop fields.

Recreation of the horse phenomenon.

© Illustration by Jesús. Diario de los Yacimientos de la Sierra de Atapuerca.

Did you know…?

Gold bracelet. Cueva del Silo, Sierra de Atapuerca. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Groups that inhabited the surroundings of Atapuerca during the Bronze Age hid a gold bracelet from 3,500 years ago under some large blocks. This specimen, which features remarkable technical complexity, is made of 98% pure gold and weighs 88.4 grams. An exceptional find due to the scarcity of this type of object in our prehistory.

El Portalón of Cueva Mayor

Last periods of occupation

Finally the archaeological sequence is completed with temporary settlements during the Iron Age, Roman and Middle Ages. During these periods, the hu man occupations established in this enclave engaged in economic activities which were complementary to the stable settlements located nearby, such as the fort of Tritium Autrigonum (Monasterio de Rodilla) and the Roman villa in the village of Atapuerca. At other times the cave could also be used as a place of rest or refuge. These groups, belonging to producer societies (farmers), left behind a rich and varied set of materials, indicative of the variety of activities and events that took place in this exceptional place as well as in other sites around the Si erra de Atapuerca. Meetings, exchanges and ceremonies took place there that intensified the global relationships of the social, economic and spiritual life of a human group.

Glossary

Archaeological site: Concentration of remains from the past featuring signs of human activity (bones, tools, structures, etc.).

Bronze Age: Prehistoric period between the Chalcolithic and the Iron Age (3,800-2,900 years before present day). It is distinguished by the introduction of alloys such as bronze, which is a mixture of tin (Sn) and copper.

Chalcolithic: Prehistoric period between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age (around 4,800-3,800 years before the present). It is also called the Copper Age. This period begins the so-called Metal Age.

Fort: Fortified pre-Roman settlement located on a rocky peak.

Gathering society: Society that bases its survival on obtaining food from the natural environment, without actually depleting it.

Habitat: Environment or type of place where a living being lives.

Holocene: Most recent epoch of the Quaternary, corresponding to the current interglacial period, which spans the last 11,780 years.

Iron Age: Last phase of the Metal Age (2,900-2,100 years before present). At this time there is a predominant use of iron (Fe) for producing tools.

Karst: Landscape created by water erosion on limestone rocks.

Lithic: Pertaining or relating to stone.

Megalithic: Prehistoric monument built with large uncut stones.

Neolithic: Period characterised by the development of the productive economy (introduction of arable and livestock farming), sedentary lifestyle and the appearance of the first settlements, the use of polished stone and pottery, and the construction of megalithic monuments. In the Iberian Peninsula their dates range between 7,000 and 4,800 ago.

Osseous: Pertaining or relating to bone.

Pleistocene: Oldest epoch of the Quaternary. It spanned between 2.5 million years ago and 11,780 years ago. It is divided into three Ages: early, middle and late. It is characterised by the alternation of glacial and interglacial periods. The Pleistocene would correspond to the archaeological Paleolithic.

Producer society: society that produces its food by domesticating species, both animals and plants.

Recent Prehistory: Period of time that includes three great stages, the Neolithic, the Chalcolithic and the Bronze Age. It is fundamentally characterised by the emergence and consolidation of a production economy based on the practice of farming.

Rock art: Images or representations that have been engraved or painted on rocky surfaces.

Stratigraphic sequence: Succession of different sedimentary layers.

Tumulus: Funerary structure made up of a pile of earth and stones over one or more burials.

Educational mini-guides

Cueva del Mirador

Exterior view of the entrance to the Mirador. © IPHES.

Moral, S., Alonso, R. 2020. “Cueva del Mirador”. In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 66-61

View of the survey started inside the Cueva del Mirador.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Cueva del Mirador

The Cueva del Mirador is a small cavity that opens into the southernmost slope of the Sierra de Atapuerca. Its prime orientation, together with the fact that this cave had not been visited much by amateur explorers, make this an ideal location for housing an extensive archaeological sequence to complete the last moments of the Pleistocene and the early Holocene.

In 1999, a series of electromagnetic soundings were carried out inside the cave in order to find out its archaeological potential and decide the exact place to dig.

A survey of 6 square meters revealed the various uses of the cavity throughout its different periods of occupation ranging from the Bronze Age to the Upper Paleolithic.

Cueva

1

Sepulchral Cave

The first excavation campaign revealed a small grave about 50 cm deep with human remains, among which several skulls cut in half stood out, as well as oth er parts of the postcranial skeleton such as ribs, vertebrae, femurs, humerus... At least six individuals were identified inside.

Dating using the carbon 14 method indicated that these remains belonged to the so-called Bronze Age (3,700 BP)

Subsequent analysis in the laboratory showed a series of evidence such as cut marks, human bites and a certain variation in the composition of the bone it self that indicated how these remains had been boiled and processed to carry some sort of activity, perhaps ritual in nature, which included cannibalism.

Did you know…?

The six skulls found are intentionally cut in half (see image), thus given the name skull cups. They take their name from the customs of some peoples of the Eurasian steppes who used them as containers for drinking liquids. Despite not being an isolated find, there are not many similar remains in Europe, the earliest dating back to the late Upper Paleolithic.

2Sheepfold Cave

Much of the stratigraphy of the archaeological survey showed sedimentation formed from animal excrement and plant remains, mixed and set on fire with the intention of purging and disinfecting the area. After the appearance of live stock farming in the Neolithic, animals were housed in that area of the cavity, which sometimes also functioned as a waste disposal area for the groups that inhabited it. This fact has provided a lot of information about the exterior land scape of the cave, as well as about the diet, cultural background and customs of these early farmers.

Did you know…?

The diet of these groups was made up of a wide variety of meat from sheep, goat, cow, pork, horse and even dog! It also included plant foods such as wheat, barley, chickpeas, lentils, and peas. All very similar to today!

Skull cup from the Cueva del Mirador. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Stratigraphic detail of the Mirador. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

3 Living place

Throughout the archaeological survey, human settlements belonging to both groups of hunter-gatherers from the Upper Paleolithic, as well as groups of farmers from the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age were documented, through different objects and dating. The most common remains of this ar chaeological excavation are all kinds of pottery (decorated or undecorated), sickle flakes, necklace beads, arrowheads and quern-stones along with animal bones and plant remains. But they have also found metallic objects, excrement (coprolites) from herbivores and carnivores, pellets ... in addition to the human remains already mentioned.

Did you know…?

Pellets, balls formed by the undigested food of carnivorous birds, indicate the periods when the cavity has not been occupied by human groups, as humans and birds could not share the space.

...

Despite all this, the archaeological survey stopped at a depth of 21 meters with out reaching the base of the cave. Large rocks falling from the roof impeded progress. However, work is still continuing in other parts of the site to focus efforts on expanding our knowledge of the groups of farmers who occupied the Cueva del Mirador, with emphasis on their burial customs.

On the other hand, a series of air currents that appeared when the survey was more than 10 meters deep indicate that the cave could take on new dimensions towards the interior of the karst. Digging in that direction is another of the team's new goals.

Thus, the early results have not been long in coming. So far two other burial sites have been documented in the cavity.

Recreation of the interior of the Cueva del Mirador. © Illustration by Dbolit. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

In the first, an individual burial of a young individual, possibly male, has been documented, next to which a fragment of a hand mill and a necklace bead made with a dentalium, a marine mollusk purposefully brought to the Sierra de Atapuerca from coastal areas, were found among other objects.

But perhaps even more striking is a collective grave discovered inside a small squeeze that opens on the right side of the cavity. Dated to the early Chalco lithic, more than twenty bodies have been deposited there at different times, even generations apart, alongside undecorated pottery, deer antlers and river shells.

Did you know…?

Samples have been taken to analyse the mitochondrial DNA (inherited from the mother) from a total of 19 individuals placed there, and the results could not have been more surprising. Their mitochondrial DNA links these Mirador populations with those of the Near East and with some Chalcolithic cultures in Germany, thus adding new questions about the neolithisation process of the Iberian Peninsula.

Cueva del Mirador

Detail of the excavation of the individual burial. © ABC.

Detailed view of the collective burial. © Agencia ICAL.

Glossary

Archaeological survey: Excavation carried out on a small area of land in order to verify the existence of an archaeological site, delimit it or recognise its stratigraphy.

Bronze Age: Prehistoric period between the Chalcolithic and the Iron Age (around 3,800-2,900 years before present day).

Carbon-14: Radioactive isotope present in all organic materials. Its instability and gradual transformation into Nitrogen 14 means that it can be dated very reliably to 45,000 years.

Chalcolithic: Prehistoric period between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age (around 4,800-3,800 years before the present). It is also called the Copper Age.

Cut mark: Evidence left on the surface of a bone by a sharp element when performing a cutting action.

Dating: Determination of the date on which something arises or occurs; the age of rocks; minerals; living beings or archaeological remains.

Electromagnetic sounding: Technique based on the study of electrical resistivity in relation to depth. It is used in archaeology in order to find out the depth of a site as well as the different types of material that make it up.

Neolithic: Period characterised by the development of the productive economy (introduction of arable and livestock farming), sedentary lifestyle and the appearance of the first settlements, the use of polished stone and pottery, and the construction of megalithic monuments. In the Iberian Peninsula their dates range between 7,000 and 4,800 ago.

Postcranial skeleton: Refers to any part of the skeleton other than the skull.

Sedimentation: Process of accumulation of the different layers of earth that are deposited at an archaeological site.

Sickle flakes: Rectangular elongated blades or flakes that have a serrated edge along one side. Inserted into a wooden handle, they acted like a sickle to mow cultivated fields.

Squeeze: In caving this is a place with a flat and very low roof that forces you to go on all fours or even crawl.

Stable: To keep domesticated animals within an enclosure for their care and control.

Stratigraphy: Term borrowed from geology that refers to the superposition of the different strata or layers of earth that form an archaeological site.

Upper paleolithic: The last of the Paleolithic stages that extends between 35,000 and 10,000 years ago and where our own species, Homo sapiens, is the main protagonist.

Educational mini-guides

Galería del Sílex

Gran Panel of the Galería del Sílex. © Miguel Ángel Martín Merino. Edelweiss Speleological Group.

Serrano, M., Juez, L., Alonso, R. 2020. “Galería del Sílex”. In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 67-73

Galería del Sílex

Among the sites in the Sierra de Atapuerca, there is a group of enclaves that have provided valuable information on the ways of life of the human groups that inhabited this area from the Neolithic to the end of the Bronze Age. This period is known as recent prehistory.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE SIERRA DE ATAPUERCA SITES

PLEISTOCENE

EARLY

Sima del Elefante

MIDDLE LATE

Gran Dolina Galería

Sima de los Huesos

Map of the karst of the Sierra de Atapuerca. © Ana Isabel Ortega. Edelweiss Speleological Group.

Hundidero Hotel California Galería de las Estatuas Valle de las Orquídeas

El Portalón El Mirador Galería del Sílex

Among these sites, the Galería del Sílex stands out, mainly because it has man ifestations of post-Palaeolithic rock art.

Located inside the Cueva Mayor-Cueva del Silo system, it spans 920 meters. Its entrance was filled in at the end of the Bronze Age, about 3,000 years ago, so this gallery was isolated from the rest of the cavity.

In 1972 it was discovered by members of the Edelweiss Speleological Group, finding all the archaeological and paleontological materials in situ, that is, as they remained at the end of the Bronze Age. Therefore, the preservation of these findings is exceptional.

Did you know…?

The name of the Galería del Sílex (‘Flint Gallery’) is due to the fact that at the end of the gallery there is a mining site for flint nodules, which was used by the groups who lived in the area around the Sierra de Atapuerca.

The works undertaken in the gallery between the 70s and 80s documented a series of artistic and cultural manifestations of a symbolic nature, probably related to the funerary world, which is why the researchers called the space a sanctuary.

The human activities documented inside include graphic manifestations, in tentional deposition of material elements, remains of fauna and even human remains, as well as anthropic structures.

Plan of the Galería del Sílex, indicating the places where human remains, paintings and engravings and flint mining operations have been found.

© Illustration by Jesús. Diario de los Yacimientos de la Sierra de Atapuerca.

Cave painting and engravings

Rock art reflects human beings’ ability to abstract and represent their reality, as these are considered the artistic expressions of that time.

Among the cultural expressions found in this gallery, graphic manifestations stand out for their abundance and variety, as almost 400 motifs have been recognised. The images or representations located in the gallery were engraved or painted on the rocky surface of the cave and are distributed throughout the gallery in more than 50 panels.

Paintings and engravings from the Galería del Sílex (reproduction).

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Engravings from the Galería del Sílex (reproduction).

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Detail of the engraving of the hunting scene (reproduction).

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Galería del Sílex

Did you know…?

One or two colours were generally used in cave paintings, including black, red, and yellow. The colours, also called pigments, were of plant origin such as charcoal, mineral compounds such as hematite, clay or manganese oxide, mixed with an organic binder such as resin or fat.

Galería del Sílex

The range of colours used is very basic, as it is limited to red (iron oxide) and black (carbon). The theme is made up of linear and geometric motifs, such as zigzags, grids, arboriform, pectiniform, tectiform and serpentine signs, as well as simple reticules or dots forming rows.

A great variety of human and animal representations of a schematic nature are also documented, which have been interpreted as scenes associated with farming and hunting practices, as demonstrated by the presence of anthropomorphs with bows pointing at prey.

In 2003, a review of part of the rock art in the Galería del Sílex was undertaken and the carbon of some black paintings was dated using radiocarbon dating. These dates set the paintings in the early stages of the Bronze Age.

Of the 53 panels with graphic representations, one of them stands out due to its exceptional nature, the so-called ‘Gran Panel’. This is where all the documented rock art evidence throughout the gallery is concentrated. It is characterised by the overlapping of engraved figures and motifs, in addition to the presence of black and red schematic paintings. Among the engravings, those of an anthropomorphic nature stand out, figures with skirts that are sometimes presented with their arms bent upwards. Of the group represented, there is a central figure around which the composition is organised. It is a figure that, according to some researchers, may be likened to a deity, a dance or an allegory related to the world of the dead.

This anthropomorphic figure bears great similarity to another that appears decorating a large vase. This figure was moulded in clay and applied to the wall of the vase, an unusual practice in the pottery of the north and centre of the peninsula. With the passage of time, some of the decoration broke off and the imprint of this decoration can be seen on the pottery itself.

Anthropomorphic engraving of the Gran Panel (reproduction).

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Detail of the anthropomorphic figure of the large pottery vase (C-12).

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Large pottery vase (C-12) with anthropomorphic decoration.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Burials

The burial and funerary nature of the site is of great importance. The human remains of at least 25 individuals (of which 8 are adults, 5 juveniles and 12 children), are distributed in three different sectors: the initial section with abundant remains from the original entrance and a possible burial chamber; the central section where the remains of children are located; and the pits of the final section, with several adults placed there and others that may have fallen accidentally, but with archaeological material at the bottom. The distribution of human remains in small groups, made up of incomplete skeletons from various individuals, shows the existence of a secondary burial place.

This high percentage of non-adult individuals is very significant and could suggest some sort of ritual in which children and juvenile individuals took precedence. Among these 25 individuals, 28% were male and 12% female, while it was impossible to determine the sex of the rest.

In addition, the existence of anthropic scrapes has been documented on one of the skulls, which could be interpreted as signs that the bodies were treated prior to their placement inside the Galería.

Together with the deposition of human bone remains, fragments of pottery, domestic fauna and a small group of stone and bone industries also appear, distributed over the whole surface, which show that the space was used from the Neolithic to the Final Bronze Age for activities that are unknown to us.

Pottery fragments

The archaeological materials featured a lot of pottery. Its 6,000 pottery fragments form, at least, 293 vases and vessels varying in type and decoration, ranging from the Neolithic to the Final Bronze Age.

The pottery collection is mostly made up of globular containers, some of them with conical bottom, handles or studs to make them easier to hold. The most common decorations include strips of clay applied in the form of garlands, bands or zig-zags; circular pieces and impressions, as well as other types of impressions made using a technique similar to boquique.

Galería

Vessel decorated with impressions. © Laura Juez. LEH-UBU.

Recreation of one of the circular structures (reproduction).

Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government

Leon.

Studying the pottery clearly showed spatial dispersion, where fragments of the same vessel were found throughout the cavity, which could be evidence of an anthropic intervention in breaking the vessels inside the gallery and then placing them at different points.

In front of the Gran Panel, a Neolithic deposit was discovered in a narrow niche, located 6 metres high. A set of pottery fragments belonging to 7 large vessels, a polished axe and remains of ovicaprids were placed inside this niche.

Animal remains

The faunal remains consist of a small group of bones, which show the presence of domestic animals such as sheep, goats, pigs, cows, horses and dogs. Wildlife is less represented and the bones belong to different species such as deer, wild boar, fox, wild cat, brown bear, hare and rabbit.

Lithic and osseous industry

These industries are represented by a small set of pieces made of stone and bone. In this set of lithic evidence, blades, flakes, points, a sickle, a circle segment and a polished axe have been recovered. The osseous industry is represented mainly by items sharpened to a point.

Circular structures

Other elements that denote the uniqueness of this site are the circular structures located in front of the Gran Panel. They consist of 9 large circles formed by rows of medium-sized limestone. It is thought that these constructions could be symbolic, although their meaning is not fully understood.

The gallery features other anthropic structures such as the presence of three silos dug into the clayey sediment, and a large structure built by the grouping of large stones and broken speleothems, possibly for storing water.

Likewise, throughout the gallery it is possible to observe the strategic location of bonfires and the remains of torches, which would have made it easier to explore them completely -even the high areas and pits that are difficult to reach-, which shows that these populations had a good knowledge of the underground world, whose space they transformed into a social and symbolic landscape.

Galería

Glossary

Anthropomorphous: That which has a human appearance or form.

Boquique or “dot and line” technique: Type of pottery decoration that was achieved with the use of an awl or some kind of toothed saw, creating slight impressions and moving the instrument sideways without lifting it.

Bronze Age: Prehistoric period between the Chalcolithic and the Iron Age (3,800-2,900 years before present day). It is distinguished by the introduction of alloys such as bronze, which is a mixture of tin and copper.

Cave painting: Drawing or representation from prehistoric times made on a wall or a large rock.

Engraving: Art and technique of engraving letters, drawings or shapes on a surface. Engraving on hard surfaces is often done with burins, chisels, and other sharp objects.

Flint: This is a mineral that is characterised by its great qualities for knapping and its chromatic varieties. Hardness 7 on the Mohs scale, it is the most used raw material throughout prehistory.

Hematites: Oxidised iron ore, red or brown, which due to its hardness is used to burnish metals.

In situ: Latin expression that means "at the site" or "at the place", and that is usually used to designate remains that have not been moved from their original location.

Neolithic: Period characterised by the development of the productive economy (introduction of arable and livestock farming), sedentary lifestyle and the appearance of the first settlements, the use of polished stone and pottery, and the construction of megalithic monuments. In the Iberian Peninsula their dates range between 7,000 and 4,800 ago.

Ovicaprid: This refers to sheep and goats.

Sepulchral: Related to a grave, which is a structure designed to bury the corpse of one or more people.

Speleothem: Mineral deposit formed in caves. The best known are stalactites and stalagmites.

Educational mini-guides

From excavation to the laboratory

Cuesta, M., Alonso, R. 2020. “From excavation to the laboratory". In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 74-82

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

During the archaeological excavation it is as if the pages of a book were being torn out and no one else could read it again.

For this reason, it is essential to record and document everything that is done during the excavation process.

From excavation to the laboratory

Excavation

What is archaeology?

Archaeology is the scientific field that is responsible for studying our past through the recovery and analysis of the remains left by different societies over time.

The first step is recovering all those remains. Archaeological excavation not only aims to unearth fossils and objects, but also to understand how the site was formed, relate it to its surroundings and find out its chronology.

But ... how do we excavate?

Excavation strategies are varied and choosing one ultimately depends on the peculiarities of the site. In the 1950s, the foundations were laid for a new exca vation strategy: the grid method.

What does this method consist of?

It consists of dividing the excavation surface into square meters directed to wards magnetic north and whose sides will act as coordinate axes (X and Y).

To take the depth (Z), an arbitrary point accessible from the site -point zero (0) - is defined, from which all the elevations are referenced to later relate them to the real depth.

It is very important to record everything during the excavation process, as by digging we destroy part of the record forever.

All the data obtained is recorded on a field sheet. At present it is done directly on a PDA, thus creating a database for subsequent analysis, together with the drawings, photographs and videos of the pieces. Documentation allows you to remember the excavation process or recreate it again for further study.

© Illustration by Inma Vera. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Excavation of the Gran Dolina site in the Sierra de Atapuerca. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Resources at the MEH

In area 5 of the museum there is a reproduction made with high resolution resins of level 10 of the Gran Dolina site, along with a series of videos explaining everything related to archaeological excavation and stratigraphic sequencing.

From excavation to the laboratory

Interactive reproduction of an archaeological excavation.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Excavation of the Galería site in the Sierra de Atapuerca.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

How are archaeological sites formed?

Data collection with a PDA.

The sites are formed by a succession of layers of sediment called strata that have been deposited at different moments in time one on top of the other: this is what is known as a stratigraphic sequence. In general, the deepest are the oldest, although sometimes we can see how parts of more modern strata are located below other older ones: this is what is known as discontinuity. On many occasions, stratigraphic discontinuities are the result of human activities.

In the case of a site in a cave, these are filled in the direction in which sediments entered, on a slope. It is excavated following these strata, since each one represents a moment of formation of the cave and we can discover the different entrances and openings that led to it in the past. This allows us to find out how this cave transformed and whether finds came from the same chronological moment. In this way, everything found in that succession will be of the same age.

During the excavation process, samples are also taken to carry out subsequent analyses related to areas as diverse as dating systems, analysis of pollen, charcoal, archaeomagnetism, etc.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

Water-washing is a technique that has long been used to obtain minerals, and since the end of the 19th century it has been adopted by palaeontologists who work with small vertebrates.

From excavation to the laboratory

During excavation, the sediment removed from each grid is stored in bags. Each bag must be perfectly identified with a label showing the site, the grid, the level, the date and the elevation that the earth comes from.

What do you do with all that earth?

It is taken to the Arlanzón River, where a series of techniques can be used to recover the tiny fossil bones of the small vertebrates (such as rodents, bats, fish...), stone chips and small debris, in other words, all the small fragments that were mixed with the earth and that are impossible to recover during excavation.

The most common technique is called dry - wash - screen. First the sediment is allowed to dry out so that it can then be disintegrated in water. Finally, it is washed in screens with the help of pressurised water. The screens have meshes of different sizes. The lower screen has a mesh size of 0.5 mm. Many of these fossils are less than one millimetre in size!

After this process, a series of bones and small stones is obtained that must be dried slowly.

Recreation of water-washing in the river. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The next step will be sorting. This technique consists of recovering the smallest fossil and lithic remains manually. In the sediment from Holocene sites, in addi tion to these remains, we can find other types of materials such as coal, seeds or pottery fragments.

How are the smallest materials recovered?

To find and recover the smallest remains, the sediment is spread on a tray and with the help of metal tweezers, all the archaeo-palaeontological pieces are selected and classified.

Drying the sediment from the El Portalón site, Sierra de Atapuerca. © LEH-UBU.

Sediment sorting. © Fundación Atapuerca.

From excavation to the laboratory

Resources at the MEH

In area 5 of the museum there is an explanatory video about the infor mation provided by the microfauna, among other interesting informa tion.

Audiovisual of the washing area of the Sierra de Atapuerca sites. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. © Fundación Atapuerca.

Did you know…?

Microfauna is a good indicator for finding out the chronology of a site, as well as the climate and landscape in which our ancestors lived. These small mammals reproduce very quickly, giving rise to new species, with others becoming extinct in a short space of time.

Rodent jaw bone (Arvícola sapidus). 350,000 years Gran Dolina (TD10). © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Resources at the MEH

At the MEH you too can sort sediment. Through touch screens you can also find small remains of chipped stone tools, pottery and the bones of small vertebrates.

Go to the screen area to be able to sort.

2. Select the remains found.

3. Find out what you found.

Interactive sediment sorting. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

From excavation to the laboratory

The laboratory

Field laboratory

Every day the materials recovered in the excavation are taken to the field labo ratory where they are classified by the type of material and by the level of the site where they were found. It is at this time that those that need restoration are selected. The other remains will go through different processes: washing, microscope, labelling.

Washing

The remains that do not need to be restored are washed to separate the sedi ment particles still attached to them. Then, the material is spread out for drying.

Microscope

Next, all the remains are put under the microscope to look for any evidence (cut marks, bites, etc.) that provides information about what happened to the animal from its death until it was unearthed. If they have these marks, they are labelled so that they are not altered.

Labelling

Labelling consists of putting a code on the pieces so that they can be documented. To do this, first a coat of enamel is applied to the artifact, the code or label is written and a second coat is applied to protect it. In this way, if something needs to be changed, we can always remove it! With this labelling you can create a database where all the information for each artifact is recorded.

Restoration

Restoration involves treatments for conservation, since the different processes that the materials endure from the time they are deposited until they are dug up mean that their characteristics and chemical composition might change. Restoration work is also done throughout the rest of the year.

Restorers will also be in charge of making moulds and replicas of the most significant remains. This way we avoid having to handle the most fragile remains and we can study these exact replicas, which can also be exhibited.

Another technique used to handle and study the fossils without damaging them is computerised axial tomography (CAT). This is a non-destructive technique that allows us to view and study hidden or inaccessible information, such as the internal structures of the skull, which in human evolution is very important because it allows us to study the evolution of the brain.

Did you know…?

From a CAT scan, parts that do not exist can be reconstructed and duplicated, as well as three-dimensional virtual reconstructions.

From excavation to the laboratory

Once the first laboratory stage has been completed, the specialists can begin studying the archaeological and palaeontological remains, since once the campaign is over, research continues at the universities and research centres, where various studies are carried out, such as taxonomy, DNA testing, traceology, etc.

- Taxonomy allows us to know which species each fossil belongs to, as well as its evolutionary relationships.

- New studies of ancient DNA are carried out in special isolated laboratories to avoid contamination issues, and add a new perspective to the phylogenetic and paleo-biogeographic study of the species. In addition, it allows us to find out what some of the molecular sequences of the fossil species were like and thus establish relationships. Thanks to this, we understand the recent evolutionary history of species and their ancestors, as well as the domestication processes that some of them have undergone.

Thanks to stable isotope analysis, we can study the ecosystems of the past by analysing the diet of mammals that lived and fed in that area. The study of stable isotopes such as Carbon or Oxygen is carried out by analysing a small amount of tooth enamel.

3D virtual models of paleontological remains from Atapuerca generated by CAT.

© Elena Santos UCM-ISCIII / LEH-UBU.

With new technologies such as the scanning electron microscope, researchers can also analyse the use-wear traces left on stone toolstraceology-, scoring marks left on bone - zooarchaeology - or pollen remains - palynology

- In addition to this, there are the physical and chemical methods of dating.

Resources at the MEH

In the panel “from taxonomy to DNA tests” you can learn more about the different studies carried out on fossils today.

The joint research of the different fields of study shows us which animals and plants were present at that time, i.e. which species they were, how long ago they lived, what the environmental conditions were like and, in general, which ecosystems and landscapes we can reconstruct from the fossil.

In this way, we can not only learn and better understand what happened in past times, but also what they have brought to the present.

From excavation to the laboratory

Glossary

Anthracology: Scientific field responsible for the study of charcoal.

Archaeological site: Concentration of remains from the past featuring signs of human activity (bones, tools, structures ...).

Archaeology: Scientific field responsible for studying our past through the recovery and analysis of the remains left by different societies over time.

Computerised axial tomography (CAT): Non-destructive technique for the volumetric exploration of solid objects using X-rays.

Cut marks: Evidence left on the surface of a bone by a sharp element when performing a cutting action.

Debris: The material produced during the process of lithic reduction and the production of chipped stone tools.

Geographic North: One of the places on the planet’s surface that coincides with the axis of rotation, the axis about which the Earth rotates. The Earth’s geographic North Pole is located in the Arctic Ocean.

Magnetic North: Point where the Earth’s magnetic field points vertically downward. That is, the direction that the magnetic needle of a compass points. This direction currently almost coincides with that of the geographic north.

Paleo-biogeographic: Geographic distribution of living beings in times past.

Paleo-magnetism: A field that, framed within Geomagnetism, is responsible for the study of the magnetic field of the Earth (or of any other planet) in the past.

Palynology: Field of Botany that studies pollen and spores through their external morphology, allowing us to distinguish families, genera, species, etc. that help to rebuild the landscape of each period in the past.

PDA: Personal digital assistant. A handheld computer originally designed as an electronic personal diary with a handwriting recognition system.

Phylogenetic: Field of Evolutionary Biology that deals with determining phylogeny.

Phylogeny: Field of Biology that deals with kinship relationships between different living beings.

Point zero (0): Depth or elevation established during the excavation process.

Sedimentology: Branch of Geology responsible for studying the processes of formation, transport and deposition of material in an archaeo-palaeontological site.

Speleothem: Mineral deposit formed in caves. The best known are stalactites and stalagmites.

Stable isotopes: Various forms of a chemical element that differ in the number of neutrons in its nucleus and, therefore, in its atomic mass.

Stratigraphic sequence: Succession of different sedimentary layers.

Stratum: Each of the superimposed layers in fossil beds, archaeological remains, etc.

Taxonomy: Science that deals with the principles, methods and purposes of classification. In Biology it is applied to the hierarchical and systematic ordering of groups of animals and plants, i.e., it deals with the classification of living beings, placing them in categories such as order, family or genus.

From excavation to the laboratory

Glossary

Traceology, or use-wear analysis: Method used to determine the function of artifacts, especially lithic artifacts, by examining use-wear traces on their edges.

Uranium-Thorium Series:

Radiometric dating technique to determine the age of materials formed by calcium carbonate, such as speleothems or corals. UraniumThorium dating has an upper age limit of just over 500,000 years.

Use-wear traces: Traces generated on tools due to their use.

Zooarchaeology: Field responsible for the study of the marks that human activity has left on animal remains, such as cut marks, skinning marks or bone fractures.

Educational mini-guides

Darwin and the theory of evolution

Paniego, S., Alonso, R. 2020. "Darwin and the theory of evolution". In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 83-91

Darwin around 1879. © Elliot & Fry. Library of Congress.

Darwin and the theory of evolution

The concept of evolution through natural selection is one of the most brilliant ideas of all time, especially for understanding biological diversity and humani ty's place in nature.

Darwin completed the scientific revolution started by Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler, taking the Earth out of the centre of creation and placing it as one more planet in the universe. In the same way, Darwin removed the human being from the centre of creation, placing him as one more species among all those that exist.

Darwin was more than a mere naturalist, since his findings transcended the lim its of Biology. His approaches have permeated every aspect of the natural and social sciences, promoting a new perspective in fields as different as prehistor ic studies, pedagogy, psychology, law and economics, medicine and biology.

Who was Charles Darwin?

Charles Darwin was born on February 12th, 1809 in Shrewsbury, central Eng land, to a well-known family of doctors.

His paternal grandfather Erasmus, a great fan of natural history, refused to be the King of England's personal physician in order to pursue science and poet ry. He was a personal friend of Josiah Wedgwood, Charles Darwin's maternal grandfather, and a famous owner of the pottery business that industrialised the manufacture of cookware.

Charles Darwin. © Illustration by Fernando Fueyo. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

Charles Darwin's fondness for experiments, alongside his older brother, earned him the nickname Gas.

Darwin and the theory of evolution

Cross-section of the H.M.S Beagle. © www.darwin-online.org.uk

Erasmus Darwin wrote a book entitled Zoonomia, which already discussed changes or transformations in species.

With these family precedents it seems obvious that his father, also a doctor, would send Darwin to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh, although he would show more interest in nature and experimental sciences.

His lack of interest in medicine led Darwin to leave Edinburgh to move to Cam bridge where he would receive ecclesiastical training. He was more attracted to the idea of becoming a country priest, an occupation that would provide him with a good social position and free time to study natural history.

In Cambridge, Darwin met the Reverend and Professor of Botany John Hen slow. Henslow had a definitive influence on Darwin's career and was the key figure for him to embark on the expedition around the world that would mark his entire life...

The voyage of the Beagle

In spite of his father's opposition and with the help of his uncle Jos, Darwin em barked on 27th December 1831 aboard the H.M.S. Beagle. Under the pretence of keeping Fitz-Roy company, his mission as a naturalist was to collect all kinds of plants, animals and rocks.

His meticulous work allowed hundreds of new species to be discovered thanks to the thousands of samples that he dissected, preserved in alcohol, natural ised, etc. At each port call in a large port, he shipped whole boxes to England where Henslow took care of them.

During one of his expeditions through South America, Darwin became serious ly ill. He suffered from fevers that are suspected to be the result a bite from the winchuka or bed bug, carrier of the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite, which causes Chagas disease. This could be the cause of the poor health that he suffered all his life. Although others consider that his physical problems could have been psychosomatic in origin, specifically the stress caused by his discoveries.

Resources at the MEH

The MEH exhibits part of the Beagle's stern at 1:1 scale.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Darwin and the theory of evolution

Variations in the beaks of the finches on the Galapagos Islands.

www.darwin-online.org.uk

Tree of life.

B.

University Library.

Itinerary of the HMS Beagle (1831-1836). © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

It was precisely in South America, specifically in the Galapagos Islands, where he experienced one of the main stages of the trip. There he observed that each of the islands had a particular species of turtles that the islanders could recog nise from the different shapes on their shells. He also noticed that there were variations in the finches that inhabited the islands. Each island was populated by a variety of finches, similar to each other, but whose body and beak were of different sizes in different ecological niches and with different food (insects, seeds, fruit, etc.). The study of the finches, which are now known as Darwin's finches, revealed years later that they were different species and, most impor tantly, that they all came from a single species living in South America.

The Beagle expedition returned to the port of Falmouth (England) on 2nd Oc tober, 1836, four years, nine months and five days after its departure. Upon his return, Charles Darwin had earned the admiration and recognition of the scientific community, and became part of the best research societies such as the Society of Geology

From 1837 he began to write his famous notebooks, one of which dealt with changes in species. Darwin's Tree of Life, in his notebook B, is the first tree of evolution outlined in history. It is Darwin's first attempt to express the relation ship that unites all living beings.

Did you know…?

Fitz-Roy, captain of the Beagle and a keen phrenologist (phrenology relat ed character and personality to cer tain features of the skull and face), al most rejected Darwin because of the shape of his nose. He considered him too weak to withstand such a long journey.

Did you know…?

Did you know that the disease Darwin suffered from is still unknown? In fact, a combination of symptoms is still known today as Darwin's disease, in cluding extreme fatigue, palpitations, chest pain and stomach problems.

Did you know…?

During the Beagle’s voyage, Darwin sent 1,529 species in alcohol flasks and 3,907 stuffed specimens to England.

Resources at the MEH

If we go inside the reconstruction of the Beagle, which is on display on the ground floor of the Muse um of Human Evolution, we can see what its cellar and Darwin's office would look like in his Down House home.

Darwin and the theory of evolution

The theory of evolution

In 1839, Darwin married his cousin Emma Wedgwood and published the book A Naturalist's Voyage Around the World.

A few years later he moved to Down House, a country house near the small town of Downe, about fifteen miles south of London.

THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES

In 1859 Darwin published his work The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, undoubtedly one of the most important in scientific thought. In it, he establishes a model that explains the evolution of species over time based on natural selection.

The publication of his ideas on evolution was brought for ward after receiving a manuscript from another English naturalist: Alfred Russell Wallace. He had independently reached similar conclusions. The two collaborated and jointly presented their works in 1858 before the Linnean Society in London but without much public reaction.

WHAT IS NATURAL SELECTION?

1 Life forms are not static but evolve. Species change continuously, some arise and others become extinct.

First edition of The Origin of Species, 1859. © www.darwin-online.org.uk.

Both Darwin and Wallace took this concept from the Essay on the Principle of Population, written by Thomas Malthus. Studying human populations, Malthus realised that living organisms produced a greater number of descendants than can survive due to limited resources, such as food or space. For this reason, Darwin assumed that there should be some mechanism that regulates indi viduals’ chances of survival and death. Thanks to his knowledge of domestic animal husbandry, Darwin was able to relate the problem posed by overpopu lation to individual variation.

For Darwin, natural selection was the fundamental mechanism of evolution. In the fight for survival, those worst adapted would be eliminated, while those with the most favourable characteristics would survive and reproduce. This is what makes species evolve over long periods of time.

The evolutionary theory or Darwinism is specified in the following points or postulates:

2 The process of evolution is gradual, slow and continuous, with no gaps or sudden changes.

3 All similar organisms are related and descended from a common ancestor. Living organisms can be traced to a single origin of life.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Caricature of Darwin. Published in Hornet magazine on 22nd March, 1871. © www.vpro.nl.

Darwin and the theory of evolution

The publication of The Origin of Species unleashed a huge scandal in British society. Darwin had to suffer the humiliation of seeing his unmistakable carica tured bearded face on the body of a monkey.

Resources at the MEH Inside the Beagle , in two audiovisual works, Darwin himself tells us about his journey aboard the ship and about his work The Origin of Species.

Darwin and the theory of evolution

Darwin's three books

1A Naturalist's Voyage Around the World

First published in 1839. A copy of the second edition (1886) is exhibited in the Museum of Human Evolution.

2

The Origin of Species (1859)

The first edition of 1,250 copies was sold out instantly. Six editions were published.

A copy of the sixth edition (1890) is exhibited in the Museum of Human Evolution.

3

The Origin of Man (1871)

This work is crucial because it applies the theory of evolution to our own species. It introduces the concept of sexual selection as a second cause for the transformation of species, par ticularly active in the case of humans. A copy of the second edition (1899) is exhibited in the Museum of Human Evolution.

Darwin has previously stated in The Origin of Man that humans and great pri mates share a common origin. And, most surprisingly, he placed the origin of man in Africa! Many years, almost a century, passed before Paleontology point ed to Africa as the cradle of humanity.

Even so, still today, most people simplify Darwin's contributions with a single sentence: "Humans descended from monkeys", the result of an incorrect inter pretation of his ideas.

But Darwin missed a key element in the evolution of living beings: what was the driver, the origin of the changes that were taking place generation after generation. This gap was filled by genetics, whose basic laws were established by the Austrian monk Gregor Mendel and by the American scientist Thomas Hunt Morgan, based on experiments carried out with peas and the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, respectively.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Originals from A Naturalist's Voyage Around the World, The Origin of Species and The Origin of Man. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Harmonia axyridis (Asian lady beetle). Theodosius Dobzhansky.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Darwin and the theory of evolution

Evolutionism after Darwin

Current evolutionary trends can be interpreted in two ways: NEO-DARWINISM. SYNTHETIC THEORY OF EVOLUTION

This postulates constant change and predominantly linear evolution. For neo-Darwinism, evolution can be described as changes in the gene frequencies of a population. It maintains, like Darwinism, the existence of natural selection as an evolutionary force and resulting from three basic facts: overpopulation, variability and inheritance. According to the neo-Darwinists, the increase in individuals with traits that promote successful survival and reproduction, as well as the elimination of those that do not, gradually leads to the origin of new species, in a process called speciation, of which isolation and environmental changes are an important part.

It also proposes other mechanisms for the emergence of new species, such as genetic drift and macro-mutations where, unlike natural selection, individuals' traits do not gradually adjust to the demands of the individual, which if favour able are preserved.

Theodosius Dobzhansky is considered the father of the synthetic theory of evolution. His studies in population genetics, carried out mainly with the fruit fly and the beetle Harmonia axyridis (Asian lady beetle), led him to enunciate his famous phrase: "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evo lution."

THEORY OF PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM

Saltationism is the opposite to Neo-Darwinism. It is based on the old positions defended by geneticist Richard Goldschmidt and paleontologist Otto Schin dewolf of evolution by jumps. Along the same lines, the theory of punctuated equilibrium or punctualism appeared more recently, due to the contributions from the paleontology of Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould in 1972. This theory is based on the fact that in the history of the Earth there are long periods in which species apparently do not undergo changes (equilibrium) and, instead, in other short periods, many new species are produced from the existing ones.

They stated that the absence of intermediate steps in the fossil records is not because they are incomplete, but because, sometimes, evolution proceeds rap idly. For them, evolution occurs "in jumps."

Evolutionism after Darwin.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Gould and Eldredge do not question evolution. What they question is that it is, as Darwin proposed, slow, gradual and continuous. They question, in short, the pace of evolution.

The mother species cannot coexist with the daughter species according to neo-Darwinism, but it frequently does so according to the theory of punctuat ed equilibrium.

Beagle, HMS: Brig of the British Royal Navy. On his second expedition (1831-1836), under the command of Capitain Robert Fitz-Roy, the young naturalist Charles Darwin traveled aboard, whose work made the Beagle one of the most famous ships in history. HMS is the acronym for “His/Her Majesty's Ship”.

Chagas disease: Tropical parasitic disease caused by a bed bug bite.

Down House: Home of Charles Darwin and his family. Located in the town of Downe, in the Bromley district, 25 kilometres South-east of London. Darwin worked on his theories this house in its gardens. It is currently a museum of English Heritage.

Fitz-Roy, Robert: Suffolk (England) July 5th, 1805 - Surrey (England), April 30th, 1865. Vice-Admiral of the British Royal Navy, known for being the commander of HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin’s voyage around the world.

Darwin and the theory of evolution

Glossary

Genetic drift: Basic mechanisms of evolution. It produces evolutionary changes by random events, resulting in changes in the genes between successive generations of a population.

Genetics: Area of biological study that seeks to understand and explain how biological inheritance is transmitted from generation to generation.

Mutation: Change in the genetic information (genotype) of a living being, which produces a variation in its traits and which can be transmitted to its offspring. It occurs spontaneously and suddenly or due to the action of mutagens.

Natural selection: Essential mechanism of the evolution of living beings. Proposed by Darwin and Wallace, generally accepted by the scientific community as an explanation for the generation of species.

Neo-Darwinism: Synthetic theory of evolution. Attempt to merge classical Darwinism with modern genetics. Formulated in the 1930s and 1940s by scientists such as Simpson, Mayr, Huxley, Dobzhansky, Fischer, Sewall Wright, and others.

Punctuated equilibrium: Theory of the field of biological evolution proposed by Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould in 1972. Against the gradualism of neo-Darwinism, punctuated equilibrium poses abrupt, non-uniform changes.

Wallace, Alfred Russel: Llanbadoc (Wales), January 8th, 1823Broadstone (England), November 7th, 1913. He was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist, known for having proposed a theory of evolution through natural selection independent to that of Charles Darwin.

Educational mini-guides

The evidence for evolution

López, R., Alonso, R. 2020. “The evidence for evolution". In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 92-106

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

of the horse.

http://equuscaballar.blogspot.com.es

The evidence for evolution

The evidence for evolution

The evolution of living beings is a vital and imperceptible process. It is impos sible to notice its existence in our day to day life because it is extremely slow. However, if evolution is a scientific certainty, how then is this certainty proven? A series of evidence that proves its existence can be found in the world around us, and even within ourselves. We have only had to learn to discover these clues that nature has always offered us.

Let's open our eyes wide and take a closer look at this evidence:

1.

Paleontological evidence

Fossil records that have survived to the present day are very partial and scarce. However, the mere fact that fossils exist, and that the vast majority belong to species that no longer exist, is evidence that life has changed throughout the planet's history.

Meticulous study of fossils has also helped us to understand how different spe cies of living beings have adapted to the changing conditions of the environ ment in which they lived. Even the morphological similarity found between some fossils and current species has allowed us to establish kinship relation ships between them. A good example of this is the horse, since it has been pos sible to recover a good chronological sequence of fossils, which has allowed us to reconstruct their evolution through time in detail, a history that dates back more than 50 million years. Evidence for the relationships between these fossils is found in the fact that they both possess traits of the previous species, and of the next species.

Sometimes it has even been possible to recover fossils that represent a transi tional stage between two different classes of species, such as Archaeopteryx This famous fossil shows forms in transition between reptiles and birds, since it had feathers and had the ability to fly, but its skeleton was completely reptilian.

This and other fossils, by showing transitional stages, show that birds evolved from dinosaurs.

Left, Archaeopteryx skeleton.

Above, recreation of Archaeopteryx.

Classification of the different species of finches. © https://www.mun.ca

The evidence for evolution

2.

Biogeographic evidence

During his voyage around the world aboard the Beagle, Darwin observed that a mysterious pattern of species grouping was repeated on each continent. He realised that species are more alike the closer they are, and that they differ more the further apart they are. And that's when the question was asked: Why do sim ilar species live in nearby ecosystems, even though they are different? And why are similar ecosystems, but located on different continents, populated by species that are not very related? In order to answer this question, let us study in detail, as Darwin himself did, a specific case: the finches of the Galapagos archipelago.

Darwin observed that the different islands were populated by different species of finches, each one perfectly adapted to the conditions of the island in which they lived. As the Galapagos Islands were far from the mainland and from other islands, very few plants and animals have been able to colonise them. The few species that arrived, in this case finches, found a great diversity of uninhabited ecological niches; therefore, as they did not have competing or predatory spe cies that limited them, they could multiply with ease. Therefore, these species diversified rapidly, giving rise to the different species of finches that inhabit the islands today.

Let's go back to the question: Why do similar species live in nearby ecosystems, even though they are different? And why are similar ecosystems, but located on different continents, populated by species that are not very related? The an swer is that similar species, in this case the various species of finches that have developed in nearby places, despite occupying different ecosystems, have de scended from the same common ancestor.

3.

Anatomical evidence

If we compare the structure and function of the organs inside different living be ings, there are three essential types: homologous, analogous and vestigial organs.

A. Homologous organs

They have the same internal structure, although they have a different function and form. For example, let's compare the structure of human limbs to those of other animals: a horse, a bat, and a whale.

The evidence for evolution

Comparison of mammalian limbs.

https://cientificament.wordpress.com

Insect and bat wings.

https://www.unam.mx

If we look closely we see that although animals use their limbs for different functions such as walking, flying or swimming, in all cases their morphological structure is the same. If we extend the field of research we will observe that the same four limbs, with the same structure, are also repeated in the rest of mammals, and even in reptiles, birds and amphibians.

Why is the same basic design repeated in such a varied way in different spe cies, and even when those same structures have different functions? Darwin found the answer: all these species share the same structure because they descend from the same common ancestor who had four limbs structured in one bone (the humerus/femur), two bones (ulna/tibia and fibula) and a set of bones (tarsi, metatarsals and phalanges/carpus, metacarpus and phalanges).

Comparison of the limb structure of the ancestral tetrapod with that of its descendants.

https://www.unam.mx

B. Analogous organs

They share a great resemblance and similar functions, although they do not come from a common ancestor. That is, they belong to species that are not evolutionarily related and that nevertheless have developed similar adaptations because they live in similar ecosystems.

For example, the wings of insects are analogous to the wings of birds and bats, which are mammals, because all of them are perfectly designed to fly. The fins of fish are also analogous to the fins of whales and dolphins because they all live in the sea.

Comparison of vertebrate embryos.

© https://www.unam.mx

Comparison between embryos of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals and humans.

© http://apuntesbiologiamol.blogspot.com.es

The evidence for evolution

C. Vestigial organs

These are atrophied, non-functional organs that appear in many species. They are structures that were perfectly functional in their ancestors, but that stopped being useful with the passing of the generations. For example, some snakes have traces of pelvis and tiny legs that they do not use, but that show that they have an ancestor that did use them.

Traces of pelvis and legs in a snake.

© https://www.unam.mx

4.

Embryological evidence

The development of embryology has made it possible to discover the great resemblance that exists, in the earliest stages, between embryos belonging to different species.

In the early stages of embryonic development they are practically the same and only as the process progresses can a differentiation between the different groups start to be observed, the more similar the more related the species are.

5.

Biochemical evidence

Did you know…?

Currently, the best proof of the existence of evolution is found within ourselves: all living beings on the planet share the same genetic code. This indicates that all organisms come from the same common ancestor, a primordial life form.

Finally, the most current evidence and those that present the most possibilities in the future, are the analysis and comparison of certain molecules found inside living beings. Mainly different types of proteins and DNA have been chosen for its study. This research has showed that the molecules are much more similar the smaller evolutionary difference there is between their possessors, and vice versa.

The hybridisation technique has been used to analyse the DNA molecules, which consists of inducing the union of two DNA sequences of the species to be analysed, in order to obtain a double hybrid chain. The bases are paired and the percentage of nucleotide pairs that differ in this union will indicate how close the relationship is between the two species. The more the DNA molecules resemble each other, the more closely related they are. For example, the high percentage of similarity, around 99%, that humans and chimpanzees share in our genetic code is well known. This proves our great evolutionary proximity, both sharing the same common ancestor. DNA.

© http://dciencia.es

The evidence for evolution

The human body

The human being is an exceptional being. We have a series of biological traits that make us unique within all living beings. And furthermore, we have invented technology, developed consciousness, created art, etc. We are unique, that is undoubted, but so is the fact that we have not evolved alone. Our body also shares hundreds of adaptive advantages with other living beings that have al lowed us to evolve over time. And what are those shared advantages that our human body treasures? Let’s start a journey through time together to discover them, from the beginning, the origin of life, to the present, will you join us?

Shared evolution. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Miller's experiment.

DNA.

The evidence for evolution

The origin of life

Even today, it remains a mystery how life originated from inert elements. Dif ferent experiments, based on Stanley Miller's famous work, have managed to emulate the Earth's original atmospheric conditions in the laboratory, which, together with different electrical discharges, have resulted in the formation of a series of organic molecules, including some amino acids.

However, although amino acids can be created from inert matter, how are these amino acids joined in long sequences, with an established order, to generate the different types of proteins? It remains a mystery. Proteins are the basis of life and currently the only possible way that exists to create a protein is in the genetic code of living beings. They do not exist outside of them. DNA closely guards the instructions needed to generate proteins. And proteins are vital for DNA transcription, translation, and replication. Both molecules are needed, but which was the first? It also remains a mystery.

We still have many unknowns to unravel, but if we are sure of one thing, it is that our DNA shares the same language with the genetic code of all living beings on the planet. This language is made up of four letters, the four nucleotides (Adenine, Cytosine, Guanine and Thymine) that always form links in a pre determined way: A-T, T-A, C-G and G-C. The funny thing is that the same thing happens in the rest of living beings: a fly, an amoeba and a tree speak with the same language: the same four nucleotides. And what is even more surprising is that its translation into the language of proteins (amino acids) is identical. In other words, three nucleotides placed in a certain order will always be trans lated into the same type of amino acid, within a human being, a mosquito or a fungus. This confirms that all living beings on the planet have the same com mon origin, which led to this genetic language. Therefore, life originated only once, and all living beings are nothing more than different evolved versions of that shared origin.

Our body is made up of eukaryotic cells

The first living being to inhabit our planet was a prokaryotic cell. A cell without a nuclear membrane that separates the genetic material from the rest of the cell, the cytoplasm, and without organelles. Currently there are two organisms of this type: bacteria and archaea.

Prokaryotic cell.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

Current stromatolites.

© https://bibliotecadeinvestigaciones.wordpress.com

The oldest evidence of life on Earth has been found in Canada and Greenland. More than 3,700-3,800 million years ago, bacteria capable of photosynthesis generated cemented mound-shaped colonies called stromatolites, giving rise to the Warrawoona Group rock formation. The fascinating thing is that even today this life form persists in Shark Bay (Australia), where stromatolites continue to be created today.

The evidence for evolution

However, we are not made up of prokaryotic cells. Like the vast majority of living beings we are made up of eukaryotic cells. How did this new type of cell come about?

The endosymbiotic theory proposed by scientist Lynn Margulis explains the origin of eukaryotic cells from the association and mutual collaboration of dif ferent primitive prokaryotic cells that united within the same cell.

The passage from prokaryotic cells to eukaryotic cells meant a great leap in terms of complexity for life, because it enabled the appearance of the first mul ticellular beings. With the exception of bacteria and archaea, the remaining four kingdoms (animals, plants, fungi and protists) come from this qualitative leap.

Eukaryotic cell. © https://www.britannica.com/science/eukaryote

Who are we?

We are ANIMALS

Endosymbiosis. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

We humans belong to the animal kingdom. A kingdom made up of multicellular living beings, of eukaryotic cells, that need to feed on other living beings, that have the ability to move and that have developed systems to relate to the en vironment in which they live.

However, when we take a closer look at our animal kingdom, it strikes us that some animals seem somewhat "abstract", because we cannot see their heads, eyes or mouths (such as a jellyfish), and other more "normal” ones, which have a mouth on the top and anus on the bottom (as with a fish). The latter possess, like us (hence we identify them as more "normal"), bilateral symmetry, that is, they are built on an axis. Animals can have radial symmetry, bilateral symme try or be asymmetrical. What are the different symmetries?

Animals with radial symmetry, such as a sponge, can feed in all directions, so their world is just as important everywhere.

However, let's think about the moment when an animal has to go towards food, instead of waiting for it. Then your world is already different. If you go towards the food, it is logical that the mouth is at the front. The senses are also placed in front to better detect the medium through which you are going to move.

The evidence for evolution

And to coordinate all that information quickly, the brain is also placed in the front. In this way, bilateral symmetry is generated. This type of symmetry de fines a body axis in the direction of movement, with an anterior and a posterior pole. The brain, sensory organs and mouth are at the front, then the digestive system develops and the anus at the end.

We are VERTEBRATE animals

Within the great kingdom of animals, we are vertebrate animals, as are other mammals, fish, birds, amphibians and reptiles. We share an articulated skeleton with all of them, which acts as a support for the body and allows it to move.

If we look closely at our spinal column, specifically the part we call the coccyx, we will discover that it is reminiscent of our primitive tail that we have lost throughout evolution. A tail, which was originally used by the first vertebrates to propel its body through the sea. Outside the sea, some vertebrates have kept it, such as reptiles, and others have lost it, like us.

The brain of vertebrates is also more developed than that of invertebrates, and is protected by a hard casing that we call the skull. We also have very complex sensory organs: invertebrates see lights, vertebrates process images.

Alligator skeleton and human skeleton. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Lungs.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Limbs.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The evidence for evolution

We are vertebrate, TERRESTRIAL animals

We are vertebrate animals that live outside of water. When leaving the aquatic environment, we had to adapt to the new terrestrial environment in several ways:

The ear: Communication with the outside depends on the environment where you live. For example, for a fish, living in an aquatic environment, communi cation is transmitted from a liquid medium (such as the ear) to another liquid medium (water). On the other hand, the communication of a terrestrial animal is transmitted from a liquid medium (ear) to an air medium (air). Therefore, as the external environment changes, a small ossicle appears in the ear of the first reptiles, called a columella, capable of transmitting sounds to the inner ear.

The skin: After coming out of the water, we needed a protective layer against drying.

The lungs: The higher concentration of oxygen in the air requires a less effi cient means of extraction: the lungs. Air has 21% oxygen and water 0.15%.

The limbs: The limbs are strengthened in the terrestrial environment where the effect of gravity is greater. By carefully observing the bone structures, we can see that all mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds are tetrapod animals, that is, we have four limbs. This includes animals such as whales or snakes, whose four limbs are not visible to the naked eye, but whose skeleton is reminiscent of them.

Another interesting fact to highlight is that all tetrapods share the same struc ture in our limbs. It is a very striking fact that such different animals, living in such different environments, such as water, land and air, share the same struc tures in the same number of limbs. How is this coincidence possible? The only possible explanation is that all tetrapods came from the same common ances tor, a fish that came out of the sea and had four fins with this bone distribution inside, a fish very similar to the current coelacanth.

Coelacanth.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Terrestrial animal.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The evidence for evolution

We are vertebrate, terrestrial animals that have developed the AMNIOTIC EGG

Although we came from the water, our ancestors had to constantly go back to it in order to reproduce, as amphibians continue to do today. How is it possible reproduce on land, without having to return to the water to lay eggs? The solu tion to the problem was invented by reptiles who developed the amniotic egg. In this way they created an aqueous environment, in which they could breathe and feed, on land.

The amniotic egg has a shell that offers protection, but at the same time allows the passage of respiratory gases and water vapour through it. The white is a large reserve of water and proteins, while the yolk is the most nutritionally val uable part, concentrating most of the vitamins, lipids and minerals.

The extra-embryonic membranes that appeared inside: the amnion, the chori on and the allantois, serve to maintain moisture, while allowing the passage of gases, the transport of nutrients and the elimination of waste.

Did you know…?

Platypus and echidnas are very curious mammalian species because they lay eggs.

The appearance of the amniotic egg facilitated the occupation of ecosystems on land. The group of tetrapods that developed the amniotic egg is currently represented by reptiles, birds, and mammals. Mammals? Yes, also mammals. We all know that reptiles and birds lay eggs, but mammals can be placed within this group as well. The answer is found when we see that mammals’ uterus is an evolution of the amniotic egg. This is a development that has a great adap tive advantage, since eggs are difficult to transport and are usually kept in the same place, with the threat that this poses from predators. However, mammals always carry their eggs with them, within themselves, thus keeping them more protected.

Human amniotic egg.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.Illustration of a platypus by John Gould in 1863.

© John Gould - Richter, H. C. The mammals of Australia by John Gould. (1845-1863). Vol 1. Plate 1.

Teeth with different shapes depending on their function.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The evidence for evolution

We are vertebrate, terrestrial animals, that have developed the amniotic egg, MAMMALS All mammals are characterised by:

• Having hair/fur and milk-producing mammary glands with which we feed our young.

• The mammalian jaw is made up of a single bone: the dental bone, which artic ulates with another bone in the skull, called the squamous bone.

• Due to the peculiar articulation of the mammalian jaw, made up of only two bones: the dental and the squamous, the square and articular bones, which are part of a reptile's jaw, became mammals' small ossicles in the middle ear: the square became the anvil and the articular became the hammer. Therefore, together with the stapes, which we also share with reptiles, mammals have a set of three ossicles that optimise the conduction of sound to the inner ear.

• Developing milk teeth in our early stages of life, and permanent teeth in later stages with different shapes according to their function: molars, premolars, canines and incisors, which improve chewing, greatly facilitating digestion. We also have cheeks, necessary to create a vacuum and to be able to suckle, which also facilitates chewing, preventing food from falling out the sides of our mouths.

We are vertebrate, terrestrial animals, that have developed the amniotic egg, mammals, PRIMATES

As the primates that we are, we share the following with all of them:

• A bigger brain than we should have based on our body size. Within this dis proportionate increase, we humans are the species with the highest degree of encephalisation that exists.

• An opposable thumb. All primates have this, which allowed us to pick up objects and, among other things, move through the trees holding onto the branches.

Opposable thumb of a primate.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

• Stereoscopic vision. In order to develop this, it is necessary that the two eyes are located in the front part of the face, in this way the vision of the eyes captures two images taken from slightly different positions. Our brain is capable of reconstructing distance and therefore depth, generating three-di mensional vision. With this type of vision, visual breadth is lost to gain depth. This type of vision is very common for predators to have, because they need to calculate the distance to the prey they are going to hunt, or for birds to know where to go, but it is rare in terrestrial herbivores, since their food is always found in a single plane, i.e. ground, in addition to the need to cover the maximum possible visual field possible to be able to monitor for the arrival of predators. Being able to see in three dimensions is very useful for being able to measure the distance when jumping from branch to branch.

• A lack of claws, which has allowed us to handle objects more precisely.

Dependency period.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

• Slow growth, basing our diet on plant products with low nutritional content. Breast milk is also not very rich in nutrients. However, the increase in breast feeding time also helped lengthen the learning period.

The evidence for evolution

• Great social complexity. To bring together differences when interacting, we use various social behaviours, including grooming: individuals in the same group cleaning one another. It is an important social activity, and a means by which animals that live in close proximity can reinforce social structures, family ties, and build relationships. It is also used as a form of reconciliation and a means of conflict resolution in some species.

Did you know…?

The name primates means first in Latin and was used for the first time by Lin naeus in 1758 in his taxonomic ordering of animals. Linnaeus also included human beings within this order. Not because he thought that primates were relatives of humans, there was still a long way to go for the first evolutionary proposals, but because he wanted to highlight the great morphological similar ity that these animals have with us. In addition, he wanted to make it clear that we and our peers are the first, that is, the most developed of the animals. For this reason, he called the rest of the mammals Secundates (seconds) and all other animals Tertiates (third).

Conclusion: As human beings we are unique, but at the same time, we are also descendants of a Great Heritage, with capital letters. Our bodies are large ly a compendium of inherited engineering, genetics, knowledge, and efforts. Throughout the previous chapters, we have tried to present and explain this heritage, which as such, is also shared by the different living beings that coex ist with us on planet Earth.

Grooming. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The evidence for evolution

Shared inheritance. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The evidence for evolution

Glossary

Amino acids: Organic compounds that combine to form proteins. Amino acids and proteins are the fundamental building blocks of life.

Biogeography: Scientific field that studies the distribution of living beings on Earth, as well as the processes that caused it.

Coccyx: Bone formed by the union of the lower vertebrae of the spine.

Cytoplasm: Part of the cell that surrounds its nucleus and is delimited by its outer membrane.

Coelacanth: It is believed to be extinct. It has unique characteristics, especially its pairs of lobed fins that extend as if they were legs moving alternately. This trait shows one of the initial stages of evolution from fish to the first four-legged land animals.

Encephalisation: Measurement of brain size in relation to body size.

Embryo: Fertilised egg in its early stages of development.

Eukaryotic cells: Cells that do have a nucleus, protected by a membrane. They have different types of organelles in their cytoplasm.

Fossil: Parts of living beings or evidence of their activity that, due to a mineralisation process, have turned to stone. However, for an archaeologist a fossil constitutes any remains or evidence of activity of a living being from the past, whether or not it has turned to stone.

Hybrid: Organism that comes from the crossing of two different species.

Linnaeus, Carl (1707-1778):

He is considered the father of biological taxonomy, that is, of the classification of all living beings on the planet. His binomial system (genus and species) created to name, order and classify different living organisms is still used, although with important changes.

Margulis, Lynn (1938-2011):

Leading American biologist who developed novel approaches to the theory of evolution, specialising in the origin of eukaryotic cells in particular.

Miller, Stanley (1930-2007):

American scientist well known for his pioneering experiment, carried out in 1953, in which he simulated the conditions of the early Earth in search of the chemical reactions that could create the first biomolecules, an essential step for the origin of life.

Nucleotide: Organic molecules that are made up of a nitrogenous base, a sugar, and phosphoric acid. Nucleotides make up the large DNA and RNA chains, responsible for storing and transmitting genetic information from one generation to another.

Paleontologist: Person responsible for studying fossils to discover and understand the different living beings that have inhabited the planet.

Prokaryotic cells: Cells that do not have a protective membrane in their nucleus, so the genetic material is dispersed in the cytoplasm. They also do not have organelles in their cytoplasm.

Tetrapod: A vertebrate animal with four limbs.

Ulna: Long bone located in the forearm, parallel to the radius.

Educational mini-guides

Human evolution

Abajo, A., de la Muñoza, R., Moral, S., Alonso, R. 2020. "Human evolution". In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 107-148

Hominin Gallery. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

At what point does human evolution begin?

Today, answering this question is still an arduous task. Despite the great dis coveries made in recent decades, the answer has yet to be found. Currently, scientists think that the origin of human evolution dates back to about 7 million years ago on the African continent.

Monkeys or primates, hominids or hominins, what are we really?

The answer is found in our taxonomic classification. The first thing we have to be aware of is that within the animal kingdom we belong to the class of mam mals. Here is where the doubts begin. The next step in which we find ourselves is the order of the primates, which appeared about 70 million years ago and of which there are more than two hundred different species today, such as le murs, lorises, tarsiers and even us. Among all these, apes would be the closest primates to us evolutionarily speaking.

Next we find the family Hominidae, also known as hominids. Until a few years ago, the term hominid referred to a bipedal primate, but today great apes such as orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos are also included in this family. Finally, we find the Hominina sub-tribe, that is, the hominins. This term has been used in science in recent years to refer to bipedal primates, with Homo sapiens being the last representative of this sub-tribe.

Therefore, it all started with bipedalism, but ... what advantages and disadvan tages has this way of moving about given us?

There are several advantages that the bipedal gait gives us:

- Freeing the hands from the locomotive function, which has allowed us to carry objects and food from dangerous places to safer ones, to be able to handle and create objects and better care for our young, by being able to carry them on our front.

- Greater panoramic vision in open areas, which has made it possible to better defend against the predators that inhabited the African continent.

- Physical stamina superior to that of quadruped animals.

- Solar radiation in our body is lower, so we have a better ability to regulate body heat.

On the contrary, there will also be some disadvantages:

- Loss of speed when we run.

- Less agility in our movements.

Chimpanzees vs humans. © Illustration by Eduardo Saiz. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Human evolution

- The shape of the pelvis becomes smaller and smaller and the birth canal narrower. If we add to this fact the increase in the cranial capacity of fetus es at birth, childbirth will become increasingly complicated,

But how can we tell if a primate is bipedal if we only have the bones? The bones of our skeleton provide more information than we might first think. We can find out information such as height, weight, cranial capacity or if there is evidence of cannibalism or diseases ... but also the way they walked.

There are several areas of our anatomy that show us if we are bipedal or not:

- The foramen magnum is the hole at the base of the skull. Its central posi tion is associated with bipedal locomotion.

- The spinal column takes on an "s" shape, which allows better weight dis tribution in our bipedal gait.

The pelvises are wider and shorter compared to those of chimpanzees.

- The femur is tilted towards the inside of the leg.

- The big toe is on the same horizontal line as the rest of the toes, which allows for a greater contact surface when walking.

Coming out of the woods. © Illustration by Eduardo Saiz. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Human evolution

From the jungle to the savannah

Bipedal primates survived the changes in landscape and climate that took place on the African continent in the early stages of our evolution. As trees dis appeared from African forests and jungles and savannahs expanded, walking on the lower limbs brought a number of advantages that other animals lacked.

Today the origin of human evolution continues to spark many discussions. Many experts believe that it all started in East Africa, in the famous Rift Valley, due to the climatic changes caused by the orography of the land. New theories are emerging today, as recent discoveries demonstrate that the earliest homi nin species are far from East Africa.

Resources at the MEH

The Hominin Gallery features the audiovisual work "The Rift Valley and human evolution", which tells us about the great importance of the geo logical and climatic changes that took place on the African continent and how these could influence the future of the evolution of hominins.

Tree of human evolution

Evolution is not a continuous and linear succession of species, where one spe cies evolves into another, but it is much more complex. Human evolution looks more like a picture of a tree: this has a common trunk that is, the common origin of where all hominids come from and still unknown today -, leading to different main branches - that we could call the genuses -, and from these in turn other minor branches - that we could call the species. With this image, it is easy to see that throughout human evolution it has been common for different genuses and species to coexist in the same environment and at the same time. However, there is rarely a consensus as to when a mother branch will give rise to a daughter branch.

Year after year the information is growing. New theories, new discoveries, new species; but we’re still missing a lot of information to answer the question, where do we come from?

Currently the tree features around thirty species, but this figure may continue to increase in the future thanks to the new discoveries made in recent years.

Tree of Evolution. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

evolution

The first hominins

Knowing which species was the first to split from the lineage of the great pri mates is still a complicated undertaking, and today there is still an arduous debate to decide which of the first three hominins is the oldest.

All three, chronologically, are the closest to our common ancestor with the chimpanzee. The oldest species attributable to our genealogy are Sahelanthro pus tchadensis, Orrorin tugenensis, and the genus Ardipithecus

Resources at the MEH

The Museum of Human Evolution has an area known as the Hominin Gallery, housing a magnificent exhibition of the main species that have been shap ing our evolution for 7 million years. Its quality makes it one of the treasures of the Museum of Human Evolution.

Human evolution

Sahelanthropus tchadensis poster. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Resources at the MEH

The Museum of Human Evolution’s collection includes fifteen replicas of the main hominin fossil skulls that allow us to see the morpho logical evolution of the cranial characteristics of the different species in our genealogy.

Human evolution

Orrorin tugenensis

A species discovered in 2000 by the team led by French paleanthropologist Brigitte Senut and British paleanthropologist Martin Pickford. Twelve fossil re mains belonging to five individuals have been found from this species. These remains have been dated to 6 million years ago.

Studies on the anatomy of femur fragments suggest that Orrorin tugenensis could have had bipedal locomotion. Its femur is surprisingly modern, due to the large head; and the back of the bone is more developed. However, it lacks the distal end, which is the key to ensuring 100% bipedalism.

The morphology and size of the teeth are similar to those of chimpanzees -small-, but their enamel is thick. It is assumed that their body size was similar to these primates, with an estimated weight between 35-50 kg.

Animal fossils were found alongside their remains, indicating that they lived in forests and open areas with dense vegetation.

Orrorin tugenensis factsheet. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Femur of Orrorin tugenensis. © humanorigins.si.edu

The genus Ardipithecus

Somewhat more modern than the two previous species are the remains of the genus Ardipithecus. The fossils were recovered in 1992 in the region of the mid dle course of the Awash River, in the north of Ethiopia.

The fossils can be grouped into two sets from different time periods, and two different species.

Ardipithecus kadabba

The oldest set, between 5.8 and 5.2 million years old, is attributed to the Ardipithecus kadabba species and was found between 1997 and 2002 by the team led by the Ethiopian paleanthropologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie. At first he classified them as a sub-species: Ardipithecus ramidus kadabba. Today, after new discoveries and especially taking into account its dentition and geological dating, it is considered a different species.

Fragments of the jaw, isolated teeth and other bones from the arm, remains belonging to five individuals, have been recovered. A phalanx of the big toe has also been recovered. From the study of this phalanx, it has been proposed that this species could have a bipedal locomotion.

The fossils were found alongside remains of extinct animals such as the fourtusked elephant - Deinotherium - and the three-toed horse - Hipparion -, as well as forest and wetland species still present today. Therefore, their habitat was a mixture of forest and grassland with springs, swamps and small lakes, not as arid as the current landscape of the Awash Valley.

Ardipithecus kadabba factsheet. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Human evolution

Ardipithecus ramidus poster. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The genus Australopithecus

Australopithecus lived in different parts of the African continent, mainly the east and south, from 4.2 million years ago until 1.8 million years ago, often co existing with different species of the same genus.

GENERAL TRAITS OF THE GENUS AUSTRALOPITHECUS:

• Locomotion: they combined quadruped locomotion with bipedal locomo tion. Bipedalism manifests itself in the central position of the foramen, in a narrow pelvis, and in the morphology of the femurs and tibias; while brachia tion is revealed in the toned chest, in the long arms, in the curved phalanges and in the short legs.

• Encephalisation: all Australopithecus have a small cranial capacity, below 500 cm3. During the survival of all the representatives of this genus there is no remarkable encephalisation process.

• Sexual dimorphism: the Australopithecus have one of the highest degrees of sexual dimorphism in the primate order. The differences between Australo pithecus males and females are obvious if we look at:

- The jaw: that of a male is much larger and has a greater development of the canines than that of the female.

- Height: females measured just over 1 m, while the males reached 1.5 m.

•Dentition and diet: as a common characteristic, their teeth have small canines and large molars, much larger than those of present-day chimpanzees and the first representatives of the genus Homo. Their diet is mainly based on soft vegetables, although they could also eat tubers, insects such as termites or small mammals.

Australopithecus anamensis

The fossils of this hominin were found in Kanapoi and Allia Bay -places near Lake Turkana, north Kenya-, and were dated to around 4.2 - 3.9 million years ago.

At first there weren’t many discoveries, but thanks to subsequent research the fossil records for this species have been increasing. It has been estimated that they would be around 1.40 m tall and 30 kg in weight. Only a few skull frag ments have been recovered with an estimated cranial capacity of about 500 cm3

The ear canal is narrow and elliptical in shape, very similar to that of great apes. However, our ear canals and those of the more modern Australopithecus are larger and circular in shape.

The jaw is narrow and protruding. It has long rows of parallel teeth and its arch tends towards a "U" shape - like that of gorillas and chimpanzees. The incisors and canines protrude from the rest of the teeth. Their molars are generally small and have thick enamel. The study of these dental traits suggests a diet based on fruit, seeds and leaves.

Human evolution

One last note about this species: through the remains found in the two loca tions mentioned above, it is associated with a varied framework of ecosystems: jungles and open forest areas.

Today Australopithecus anamensis is considered a key discovery, since as a species it fits perfectly within the evolutionary model, combining archaic and modern traits.

Australopithecus anamensis jaw bone. © humanorigins.si.edu

Australopithecus afarensis

Australopithecus afarensis remains have been found throughout the eastern region of the African continent: north of Ethiopia -in Hadar-, at the mouth of the Omo River and in the middle Awash, in northern Tanzania -in the Laetoli region- and in Kenya - in western Turkana.

It is undoubtedly the best-known australopithecine species, since there are more than three hundred individuals that provide a large amount of informa tion. These notably include:

• Skull AL 444-2, discovered in the Middle Awash Basin by Tim White. The skull belonged to a male and is practically complete. With it it has been possible to determine the existence of great sexual dimorphism. It has a highly de veloped facial prognathism in the subnasal area. It has marked sagittal and nuchal ridges. With regard to the mandible, the evolution of Australopithecus anamensis continues: the canine is somewhat smaller and the enamel is still thick. The size of the molars and premolars remains large.

• Selam or Dikika baby, discovered by Zeresenay Alemseged, Ethiopi an paleoanthropologist. This name was given to a almost complete skeleton of an afarensis toddler. Her remains were found in the region

Australopithecus anamensis factsheet. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

Donald Johanson, who discovered Lucy's remains, has visited the Museum of Human Evolution on several occasions. During his visits Johanson gave us an exciting image, greeting Lucy’s replica housed in the Museum.

evolution

Resources at the MEH

In the Hominin Gallery you will find full-body and life-scale recreations of ten of our most representative ancestor species, made by the French paleoartist Elisabeth Daynès, who is highly reputed for the quality of her replicas. She herself summarises her work as follows: "I try to give the public the chance to come face to face with beings who lived millions of years ago, an encounter with a different kind of humanity."

between the Awash River and the Gona River. Thanks to these fossils it is possible to interpret what the development of this species was like. This is a female baby who died when she was about three years old and has been dated to around 3.3 million years ago. She has a cranial capacity of about 275-330 cm3, similar to that of a young chimpanzee. The cause of her death is unknown, but it appears that the river washed away her body and quickly buried it, protecting it from scavengers and natural decomposition processes.

• But without a doubt the most representative individual of this species, and ultimately the most famous hominin in evolution, is Lucy

• Laetoli footprints. Thanks to the large amount of Australopithecus afaren sis found, it has been possible to confirm the double locomotion mentioned above. Between 1976-77 some traces of fossil footprints were discovered in Laetoli -Tanzania-, whose age was around 3.7 million years. These footprints confirmed what the bones told us; bipedalism was happening. They cover a 23 m long section, where the footprints of four individuals were recorded and show only the footprints of the soles of the feet. These footprints have lasted over time thanks to the fact that this group walked on volcanic ash still wet from recent rain, which was preserved when it dried. In fact, not only aus tralopithecine tracks have been found at Laetoli, but also the tracks of other animals characteristic of a dry savannah.

Australopithecus afarensis factsheet. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Human evolution

Lucy doodle page. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Skull AL 444-2. © humanorigins.si.edu

Recreation of Dikika. © Kennis & Kennis.

Laetoli footprints. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

For scientists of the time, it was unthinkable that humans’ origin was on the African continent. For this reason, the Taung Child’s skull was used as a paperweight for many years, as it was not initially considered a possible member of the hominin family.

Human evolution

Australopithecus bahrelghazali

Discovered by Michael Brunet in Koro Toro –Republic of Chad-, in 1996. Its fossil record is scarce, but the place of its discovery, 2,500 km west of the Rift Valley, makes it an important piece for those who think that the first hom inins did not come from that valley.

Morphologically it is similar to Australopithecus afarensis, although it is dif ferent in two ways: a more developed and robust mandibular joint and higher cusps of the premolars.

Along with the remains of Australopithecus bahrelghazali, numerous animal fossils have been found, which are associated with a savannah ecosystem.

Australopithecus africanus

This was the first early hominin species identified, enshrining Africa as the site of the evolution of ancient hominins.

Although Charles Darwin claimed that humans probably originated in Africa, until 1924 hominin fossils had only been found in Europe and Asia.

This changed when in the same year Raymond Dart, professor of anatomy at a University in Johannesburg (South Africa), received a box of fossils from the Taung quarries, near the Kalahari desert. Among them he recognised a juvenile partial skull, the Taung Child, which Dart concluded represented an "extinct race of apes intermediate between modern anthropoids and man", presenting to the world what he considered to be a human ancestor.

Australopithecus bahrelghazali factsheet. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

The name Mrs. Ples comes from the first scientific designation Robert Broom gave the skull, Ple sianthropus transvaalensis, which means Transvaal almost human.

Human evolution

Among the many remains associated with this species, we can highlight Mrs. Ples -Sts 5-. This is a very complete and iconic skull, found in 1947 by Robert Broom in Sterkfontein, South Africa.

Australopithecus garhi

For many scientists, this hominin is a serious candidate for the ancestor of the first representatives of the genus Homo

Australopithecus garhi remains suggest that its brain is no larger than that of a chimpanzee, about 450 cm3. They are very prognathic and have huge den tition, both their molars and their premolars; the skull has a marked sagittal ridge, suggesting powerful chewing muscles.

Australopithecus africanus factsheet. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Taung child skull and recreation. © www.abroadintheyard.com

Skull of Mrs. Ples. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Human evolution

Australopithecus garhi skull. © www.indiana.edu

Australopithecus garhi factsheet.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Australopithecus sediba

In 2008, the son of paleanthropologist Lee Berger found a clavicle from a young individual at the Malapa site in South Africa. Focusing on this area, the research team unearthed two rare and remarkable partial skeletons: that of a young male and that of an adult female.

Compared to Australopithecus africanus, its face is narrow and the browbone is modest. The size of the teeth is similar to that of the first species of the Homo genus and the changes in the pelvis point to an upright gait.

Australopithecus sediba skull. © humanorigins.si.edu

Australopithecus sediba factsheet.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Human evolution

Kenyanthropus platyops

In 1999, a member of the research team led by Meave Leakey found a nearly complete hominin skull (KNM-WT 40,000) on the west shore of Lake Turkana, Kenya.

The fossil dates back to about 3.5 million years ago and has very interesting traits since it combines modern and inherited features: the skull has a small ear hole, the nasal opening is narrow and its cranial capacity is not very large. However, its molars are very small with quite thick enamel.

The most striking feature is that its face is very flat, hence the name platyops

Kenyanthropus platyops factsheet. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Kenyanthropus platyops. © Illustration by Mauricio Antón. https:// mauricioanton.wordpress.com/

Human evolution

The genus Paranthropus

About 2.5 million years ago the climate changed globally, a great glaciation that transformed the planet’s climate, very cold in the northern hemisphere and warm in the south, causing profound changes in African ecosystems. Due to the drought and high temperatures of this continent, the great forests of Africa gave way to vast regions of savannah and desert areas.

This climatic change led to two different branches of specific adaptations: on the one hand, the Paranthropus, who adopted a highly herbivorous diet with seasonal variability, and on the other, the gracile australopithecine branch, which opted for plant resources and increased animal consumption, leading to greater encephalisation and giving way to the genus Homo

All this hominin diversity is practically confined to the eastern region of Africa, where they shared the same types of savannah ecosystems.

GENERAL TRAITS OF THE GENUS PARANTHROPUS:

All three species were hominins adapted to consume plants from the savannah and sparsely forested regions. Their diet would not vary much from that of grazing animals and mainly consisted of herbaceous plants, although in times of famine they might have opted for hard foods. This being the case, the large tooth surface and the structure of the skull would relate to regular and repetitive chewing of highly abrasive foods.

• Due to this large, concentrated muscle bundle in the jaw, the sagittal ridges are highly developed

• The incisors and canines decrease in size, while the premolars and molars increase considerably.

• The enamel on their teeth is much thicker to avoid the abrasive wear caused by the food they eat.

• In general, the face is broad, high and above all flat, since the cheekbones comes foreward, and the jaw recedes.

Human evolution

Paranthropus aethiopicus

This was the first hominin found in Ethiopia, in 1967. At that time it was named Paraustralopithecus aethiopicus.

At the time it did not cause a great impact on the scientific world, but almost twenty years later, in Lake Turkana (Kenya), collaborators of Richard Leaky found a very well preserved skull with significantly wide face, known as the “black skull” o WT 17000 dated at 2.5 million years old.

It presents a cranial morphological structure that responds to hypermastication: huge molars, large jaw, mandibular joint with primitive structure, sagittal crest, and a considerably developed and open zygomatic arch, which indicates a highly developed muscular bundle in the mandible. Against this cranial ro bustness, it is curious to observe its small brain: 410 cm3

In 1987 both remains were grouped within the species Paranthropus aethiopicus .

We wanted to see an intermediate evolutionary state between Australo pithecus afarensis and Paranthropus boisei in this species, since many of the features that characterise the anatomy of the paranthropes are not yet present in this species and others are only incipient.

Paranthropus aethiopicus factsheet. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Paranthropus aethiopicus skull. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Human evolution

Paranthropus robustus

This kind of Paranthropus was defined in 1938 by the Scotsman Robert Broom. Remains of it have only appeared in South Africa.

They present a high degree of sexual dimorphism. The molars and premolars are huge and have thick enamel, often with flat wear.

Through pollen and plant and animal remains, it is thought that they could have lived in an environment of open forests.

Paranthropus robustus factsheet. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Paranthropus robustus skull. © humanorigins.si.edu

Human evolution

Paranthropus boisei poster. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The first tools.

© Illustration by Eduardo Saiz. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The genus Homo: what makes us human?

Precision grip and pressure grip.

© Illustration by Eduardo Saiz. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Currently, the ability to build tools using stone as raw material is the first differ entiating fact that made us human. After this, other differentiating traits would follow, such as the use of fire, complex societies, the symbolic mind or art. In short, culture is what differentiates the human species.

Another trait present in the human race is an increase in cranial capacity. This larger brain allows for a greater degree of mental abstraction in order to create different cultural processes.

And finally the morphological changes in the structure of the hand, allowing for a more precise opposable thumb to grasp, handle and create objects.

Human evolution

Homo habilis poster. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

The possible reason for the accu mulation of so many individuals in the Dmanisi site is that they were probably preyed upon by carni vores, probably sabre-toothed tigers.

Human evolution

Homo rudolfensis

The holotype of Homo rudolfensis is the KNM-ER 1470 skull, discovered by Bernard Ngeneo in 1972 at the Koobi Fora site, on the eastern shore of Lake Turkana (formerly known as Lake Rudolf).

In 1986 V. Alexeev named it Pithecanthropus rudolfensis, although later it has been assigned to the genus Homo

It has a cranial capacity greater than 700 cm3. Its skull has a much larger vault than Homo habilis and its face is flatter and wider. It lacks nasal projection.

Homo georgicus

The Dmanisi site in Georgia is located under the ruins of an ancient medieval fortress. In 1991 a hominin jaw was discovered in 1.8 million year old deposits. Since then, fossils of males and females, adults and youngsters have been re covered.

Among the most significant remains recovered from this species, skull D4500 or skull 5 stands out, one of the most complete that has been found in the fossil record of the whole world.

Recreation of Homo georgicus.

© Reproduction by E. Daynès.

Museum of Human Evolution.

Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The Dmanisi fossils are the oldest hominin population outside the African continent. Their discovery has been important for understanding the migra tions of the first hominins.

Homo rudolfensis skull.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Homo rudolfensis factsheet. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Why leave Africa?

About 2 million years ago, a new climate change caused landscapes such as the savannah and the desert to expand outside the African continent. This growth let to a decrease in resources and a change in the migration patterns of some animals. Several native species of horse, deer, wolf, as well as species of African origin such as short-necked giraffes, hyenas and ostriches, have been found at the Dmanisi site. It may be that the hominins moved to follow the migrations of these animals in search of food.

Homo georgicus skull. © dhistorika.blogspot.comes

Homo georgicus factsheet. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Human evolution

Homo ergaster poster. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Human evolution

Homo erectus

Between 1890 and 1892, the Dutch doctor Eugène Dubois discovered the first fossil remains of Homo erectus on the island of Java, which he named Pithe canthropus erectus (a monkey man who walks upright), since it combined a skull of only 1,000 cm3 with perfect upright standing. Finally these remains would be included within the genus Homo

This species occupied all of South-east Asia, then inhabiting the islands of In donesia. Without a doubt, it is the species with the greatest evolutionary success, occupying a time period of more than one and a half million years.

Did you know…?

For years, Homo erectus teeth found in Pekingese territory were sold to tourists as dragon teeth. Luck came when one of those teeth fell into the hands of a Swedish scientist, who after careful study determined that it belonged to an extinct mammal.

Several remains belonging to the species Homo erectus disappeared in the middle of World War II. The Chinese government decided, before the Japanese invasion, to send the fossils for safekeeping to the United States. On the way the fossils disappeared and were never heard of again.

Homo erectus factsheet. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Homo erectus skull.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Recreation of Homo erectus. © Kennis & Kennis reconstructions.

Did you know…?

To this day, the fossil remains found in the Sima del Elefante site in Burgos or Orce site in Granada, have allowed us to date the arrival of the first humans to the European continent to over a million years ago.

Human evolution

Homo antecessor

The discovery in 1994 of some human remains found in the Gran Dolina site of the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain), made it possible to propose a new species, which was called Homo antecessor.

At present, more than a hundred human remains belonging to about eleven individuals have been recovered, all of them highly fragmented.

Until that time, the oldest human remains in Western Europe would be around 600,000 years old and were associated with Homo heidelbergensis. The re mains from TD6 showed that humans arrived to the European continent much earlier than previously thought.

Homo antecessor is a species with an interesting mix of archaic and modern traits. The archaic features are a very marked supraorbital torus, a receding forehead and teeth that retain thick enamel with features reminiscent of ar chaic African species. However, without marked facial prognathism and with canine fossa (depression in the infraorbital plates at the level of the maxilla), scientists see characteristics of evident modernity.

In the human remains located in TD6, marks of having been beaten, scraped and skinned have been observed, evidence suggesting that this is the oldest proof of human cannibalism.

Homo antecessor factsheet. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Homo antecessor skull.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Sculpture of Homo antecessor. © Reproduction by E. Daynès. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

The hyoid bone is the key to considering whether or not a species might have had articulate language. Currently only five have been recovered: Selam or Dikika Baby (Australopithecus afarensis); two in the Sima de los Huesos (pre-Neanderthals); one in Kebara and the other in the El Sidrón site (Homo neanderthalensis).

Human evolution

Pre-Neanderthal

Traditionally the species that encompassed the different existing forms, both European and African, in the Middle Pleistocene was known by the name Homo heidelbergensis. Today, following new research and after obtaining its DNA, researchers argue that it should be included within the branch of Neanderthals, and more specifically the early stages. Thus, the name Homo heidelbergensis has remained somewhat lacking in fossils, to the point that some think that it should be eliminated from the phylogenetic tree. Until a new term for them is coined, if necessary, for now we are going to call them pre-Neanderthals.

These pre-Neanderthals lived in Europe from 600,000 years ago to 160,000 years ago, and thanks to sites such as the Sima de los Huesos in the Sierra de Atapuerca mountain range, they are one of the best-known species in human evolution. The small space occupied by the site has seen the largest number of human fossils in the world; more than 7,500 fossils belonging to at least 29 individuals of both sexes and different ages.

Their anatomy features a phonation and hearing apparatus that was not far from ours, and we assume that their language must include a greater diversity of sounds than in previous species.

Their hunting activities were very complex, as evidenced by the discovery of the first wooden spears and tools at the Schöningen site (Germany). Their state of conservation is exceptional.

Pre-Neanderthal factsheet. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Recreation of a pre-Neanderthal. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

The Homo rhodesiensis holotype is a very complete skull, known as Broken Hill 1, discovered in 1921 by miner Tom Zwiglaar in a lead and zinc mine at Broken Hill (present-day Kabwe), north of ancient Northern Rhodesia (today Zambia).

Human evolution

Resources at the MEH

The Museum of Human Evolution's collection includes original fossils from the Sima de los Huesos site, considered to be true treasures of paleontology.

• Height. Through the length of their limb bones we can know that their height would be around 1.75 m

• Weight. The study of the famous Elvis pelvis, which belonged to a man of about 45 years of age and whose technical name is pelvis 1, has shown that the humans of the Sima were stronger and larger than us. In the case of this individual, he would be around 100 kg of pure muscle.

• Face. Skull 5, the most complete fossil skull in the world, shows us ex actly what the cranial and facial morphology of this species would be. This skull is popularly known by the name of Miguelón, in honour of the Navarrese cyclist Miguel Induráin.

Homo rhodesiensis

In 1921 Arthur S. Woodward proposed the creation of a new species, inter mediate in time between Homo ergaster and Homo sapiens, which he named Homo rhodesiensis. Its validity is questioned by part of the scientific commu nity, which suggests the possibility of including it within the former Homo hei delbergensis species.

Currently there is a tendency to argue that it is a different species thanks to mitochondrial DNA studies, which indicate the African origin of Homo sapiens It is necessary to separate two lines of phylogeny: a European line represented by pre-Neanderthals and Homo neanderthalensis; and an African line formed by Homo rhodesiensis and Homo sapiens.

Homo rhodesiensis factsheet.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Sculpture of Homo rhodesiensis.

© Reproduction by E. Daynès. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Broken Hill Skull 1.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Human evolution

Homo neanderthalensis poster. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

Due to its small size and low weight, the Homo floresiensis species is also popularly known as "The Hobbit".

Human evolution

Homo floresiensis

The first remains of Homo floresiensis were discovered in 2003 in the Liang Bua cave, on the island of Flores (Indonesia). They are between 100,000 and 60,000 years old and present a unique combination of characteristics that are very difficult to explain.

It has a small skull capacity, only about 400 cm3 (similar to that of a chimpan zee), and a height of around 1 m. Its most modern trait is its teeth.

Anthropically manipulated animals and a lithic record similar to that of the Up per Paleolithic in Asia were also found at the site.

Researchers ruled out the possibility of a single genetic malformation, as not a single individual but half a dozen were found. Despite this, the most critical of this hypothesis do not rule out that they may have had pathological dwarfism and/or microcephaly.

Scientists have concluded that perhaps Homo floresiensis descended directly from Homo erectus, which came to the Indonesian islands about 800,000 years ago, although other hypotheses point to Homo habilis as a sister species to floresiensis.

The island of Flores has long been separated from Australia and Asia. This prolonged isolation may have led the hominin species that inhabited it to shrink compared to their continental relatives, a phenomenon known as insular dwarfism.

Homo floresiensis factsheet.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Homo floresiensis skull.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Representation of Homo floresiensis compared to Homo sapiens.

© Illustration by Eduardo Saiz. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

In 2017, scientists found human fossils in a cave in Morocco that were part of the first steps of the Homo sapiens lineage, despite not presenting the physical characteristics that define modern humans. Their age, dated at 300,000 years, surprised the scientific community, shifting all eyes in search of our own origin from East to North Africa.

Human evolution

Homo sapiens

Considering the fossil record it can be concluded that the origin of Homo sapiens could be placed chronologically about 200,000 years ago; In this time period, a series of fossils appear in Africa that begin to show physical charac teristics typical of modern humans.

The oldest known remains of Homo sapiens come from the east of the African continent, specifically from Ethiopia; we are referring to the remains of Omo I-II, 195,000 years old, and the remains of Herto (Homo sapiens Idaltu), 160,000 years old.

Did you know…?

The first news of the discovery of a modern human fossil dates back to 1823 in the United Kingdom and would be known as "the Red Lady". It was actually the burial of a boy in his thirties whose bones had been reddened by the presence of ochre in the personal belongings that accompanied him.

However, the most famous find was in 1868, in the Cro-Magnon shelter (France). From then on, the Cro-Magnons, our prehistoric ancestors, were born.

Homo sapiens factsheet. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Cro-Magnon skull. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Resources at the MEH

The Hominin Gallery features the audiovisual work "Commitment to and responsibility for the earth", which invites us to reflect on the reasons for our evolutionary success and the need to preserve the inheritance received from our ancestors.

But how did Homo sapiens come about?

1. Multiregional hypothesis.

This hypothesis argues the existence of a single human species (Homo erectus) throughout the last million and a half years from which the different current human groups originated due to geographical diversification.

2. Hypothesis of the African Eve or Out of Africa hypothesis.

Data from molecular biology proposed the single origin model. This model maintains that Africa is the cradle of modern humanity. The Homo sapiens spe cies originated there about 200,000 years ago, and from there it colonised the other continents.

Today we know that racial traits are merely superficial adaptations to envi ronmental conditions, and that they have not played any relevant biological role in the evolutionary history of our species. Therefore, the terms race and racism should not exist when we refer to our species. Despite the variation in external appearance, the genetic variation of our entire species is insignificant, over 99% of the genetic code of all humans is identical.

Out of Africa

About 185,000 years ago modern humans began to leave Africa, and genera tion after generation they spread throughout the world.

The first fossils of Homo sapiens outside the African continent come from cave sites such as Misliya and Skhul (Mount Carmel, Israel) from about 185,000120,000 years ago.

One of these populations, with anatomical characteristics typical of modern humanity, continued its expansion out of Africa to the other continents be tween 100,000 and 30,000 years ago. Therefore, the first sites associated with Homo sapiens in the Asian continent are documented from 100,000 years ago. Our species has been present in Europe for about 42,000 years. The sites in Oceania are incredible, with chronologies of 60,000 years. The last continent that had never been inhabited by the Hominids, America, was populated some 30,000 years ago, when it was reached through the Bering Strait.

New hominin species

In recent years, as a result of new research around the world, scientists have made new discoveries that would complete the complex evolutionary tree of humans. Some of these species are not really well known yet and we need more information about them. It is very likely that in the not too distant future they will be included in the studies of human evolution.

Australopithecus deyiremeda

In 2011, 35 km north of Hadar (Ethiopia), the site where Lucy's remains were discovered, a robust jaw fragment was found, associated with a prognathic face that had small teeth with thick enamel. These characteristics suggest that the species was probably adapted to a diet of hard, chewy and abrasive foods.

The discoverers propose that this species was most likely a descendant of Aus tralopithecus afarensis.

Australopithecus deyiremeda factsheet. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Australopithecus deyiremeda jaw bone. © www.nature.com

Human evolution

Australopithecus prometheus

Species first proposed in 1948, when the paleoanthropologist Raymond Dart found remains of a hominin in Makapansgat (South Africa) and named it Aus tralopithecus prometheus.

Did you know…?

The scientific name Australopithecus prometheus originates from an error. Dart thought that there were burned bones at the site and interpreted that his australopithecus dominated fire, so he used the name of the Greek titan who stole fire from the gods to give it to humans. In fact the bones had been blackened by manganese.

Between 1994 and 1998, a surprisingly complete fossil skeleton of a hominin was discovered in the Sterkfontein cave system, South Africa, known as Little Foot, with a chronology of 3.6 million years. The remains were found more than 20 m deep and buried in rock. Just to bring the remains to the surface took thirteen years, since first of all the bones had to be separated from the rock itself. It then took three years to clean and rebuild all the remains.

Australopithecus prometheus factsheet. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Australopithecus prometheus skull. © www.nature.com

Did you know…?

The individual to whom this jaw bone belonged suffered severe dental disease. The teeth appear almost outside the dental cavities, causing a totally abnormal bite.

Homo sp. Barranco León – Orce

In 2008 a milk tooth was found at the Barranco León site, in Orce (Granada). This fossil was of great importance, as it showed the scientific community that hominins arrived in this area of the European continent 1.4 million years ago.

The denomination sp. (unidentified species) is due to the fact that it has not been possible to ascribe it to a specific species, whether new or known, as we only have one tooth to go by.

Alongside the tooth, remains of fauna and lithic industry were found.

Homo sp. Sima del Elefante

In 2007, three fragments of a hominin were discovered at the Sima del Elefante site in the Sierra de Atapuerca mountain range, aged around 1.2 million years old. The preliminary study published in the journal Nature in 2008 ascribed these remains to the species Homo antecessor.

Later, in 2010, the team led by José María Bermúdez de Castro carried out further research in which it was concluded that these remains could not be ascribed to any hominin species documented to date. For this reason, these human fossils bear the provisional name Homo sp.

This study determined that this jaw bone had primitive features of the genus Homo on the anterior face of the joint, a feature that it would share with the jaws of Homo georgicus. However, it is also noted that the inner face of the joint is very vertical and resembles the jaws of more recent Homo erectus from Asia.

Factsheet for Homo sp. of Barranco León-Orce © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Molar of Homo sp. © esmateria.com

Did you know…?

Access to the cave is so narrow that site managers looked for very slim archaeologists to be able to reach this accumulation of fossils.

Human evolution

Homo naledi

Species discovered in 2013, but published in National Geographic magazine in 2015. This accumulation of more than 1,550 fossils belonging to at least fifteen individuals was discovered in a labyrinthine cave called Rising Star, in Johan nesburg (South Africa).

The fossils are in good condition, mainly due to the difficult access to the cavi ty. A recently published dating places their age between 335,000 and 236,000 years.

A curious anatomical characteristic that we find in Homo naledi is its fingers, which are extremely curved, more than those of any other known hominin spe cies, which would make it a great climber.

One of the possible theories put forward by the experts is that this accumula tion of individuals is intentional, and that therefore we are dealing with one of the first signs of ritual behaviour by a hominin in human evolution, similar to the Sima de los Huesos in the Sierra de Atapuerca.

Homo sp. factsheet. Sima del Elefante. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Jaw bone of Homo sp. © IPHES.

Human evolution

Denisova hominins

Denisovans are a possible species belonging to the genus Homo, discovered in 2010 in the Denisova cave (Siberia). They have been identified as hominin thanks to DNA extracted from a phalanx of a child's toe.

The mitochondrial DNA obtained shows that this species would be related to Neanderthals and sapiens, since the three shared a common ancestor.

Homo naledi factsheet.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Recreation and partial skeleton of Homo naledi.

www.nationalgeographic.com

Denisova hominin factsheet.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Denisova hominin molar.

www.abc.es

Human evolution

Capsules of Evolution poster. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Arboreal: That lives in the trees.

Brachiation: A mode of locomotion through the trees in which some primates move by balancing between the branches of the trees, using only their arms.

Distal end: Part of a limb or organ that is more distant from the head or its central axis.

Elusive forehead: Flat forehead with a tendency to tilt back.

Encephalisation: Encephalisation is a measure of the degree of development of the brain.

Human evolution

Glossary

Nuchal crest: Elevated bony ridge in the back of the skull that would facilitate the fixation of the neck muscles.

Opposable thumb: Anatomical arrangement in which the fleshy tip of the thumb can touch the fleshy tip of all the fingers.

Prognathic/prognathism: With the face protruding forward.

Sagittal crest: Bony protrusion in the upper part of the skull that runs through the sagittal suture, that is, through the central area of the skull.

Sexual dimorphism: Set of morphological and physiological differences that characterise and differentiate the two sexes of the same species.

Supraorbital torus: Prominent bone that some primates have over the eyes.

Taxonomic/taxon: Each of the subdivisions of the biological classification, from the species, which is taken as a unit, to the phylum or type of organisation.

Zygomatic arch: Structure that joins the cheekbone with the skull.

Educational mini-guides

The brain

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Paniego, S., Alonso, R. 2020. “The Brain". In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 149-159

The brain

The brain

If there is something that differentiates us from other living beings, it is the brain. Hundreds of thousands of years of evolution have increased its volume and developed an extensive cerebral cortex, the place where knowledge is stored and thanks to which thought and culture have emerged. In addition, the brain is also capable of long-term planning, projecting desires and ordering strategies, of feeling emotions and of focusing desires towards what interests us.

This capacity for affection and culture leads us to establish the social ties and relationships that make us human. Not surprisingly, the neurophysiologist and Nobel Prize winner in Medicine John Eccles said: “I can state with complete assurance that for each of us our brains form the material basis of our experi ences and memories, our imaginations, our dreams."

Our brain is a large gelatinous mass weighing almost one and a half kilograms, grey in colour, which constitutes the main mass of the brain. It is the size of a coconut, the shape of a walnut, the colour of uncooked liver, and the consist ency of cold butter.

The brain processes, analyses and collates information from outside and inside the body, transforms it into sensations and stores it as memories. It is here that the processes that lead to the elaboration of thought and the motor or endo crine reaction of the body are developed.

"The brain is the most complex organisation of matter that we know." Isaac Asimov.

The brain area. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Real human brain. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Interactive activity on the cerebral cortex and its functions.

brain

The brain and its parts

The brain is made up of two hemispheres, separated by a deep fissure (longitudinal fissure), in constant communication thanks to 300 million connections that transmit information between them. It is constantly working, even while we sleep. All its activity is electrochemical and it is structured in different parts:

1.

Cerebral cortex

It is constituted by tissue with deep wrinkles. It is the outer layer of the brain. It is a neuronal layer with a thickness ranging between 1.3 and 4.5 mm and a volume of 600 cm3. There are six layers in it. It is thought that half of our neurons (50,000 million) are in the cerebral cortex.

Due to its numerous folds, the brain surface is about thirty times larger than the surface available in the cranial space.

The most prominent functions of the cerebral cortex include:

Language.

The main areas responsible for language in the cerebral cortex are: Broca's and Wernicke's areas. In most people language is located in the left hemisphere of the brain.

Why Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas?

In 1861, the French surgeon Paul Broca presented the French Anthropological Society with the results of an autopsy on the brain of a man who for years suffered from muscle weakness in the entire right part of his body and had almost completely lost his speech. The brain of this patient, who was known as Tan because that was apparently the only word he was able to pronounce, showed a clear lesion of the left frontal lobe. The brain damage was localised in what is now known as Broca's area. It has been proven following multiple cases that when this part of the brain is damaged there is an almost complete inability to articulate words (what is known as motor aphasia).

In 1874 Carl Wernicke, a German neurologist, first described sensory aphasia. People with this type of aphasia have difficulty understanding spoken and written language and less difficulty producing speech. The area of the brain affected in these types of language disorders is the left cerebral cortex, near the auditory areas.

Sight.

The occipital lobe is responsible for processing images from the retina. The main task of this lobe is to decipher the electrical impulses sent by the optic nerve, interpret them and show us the image.

Touch.

The receptors, located in the skin of our fingers and body, are able to provide information to the different areas of the cerebral cortex and thus discriminate and construct the world of shapes (straight, curved, angular), sizes (large, small), texture (smooth, rough), pressure and, beyond that, the sense and awareness of the position of the hands or arms and legs.

Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The brain

Did you know…?

If we laid out the cerebral cortex, it would cover an area equivalent to four sheets of paper. That of a chimpanzee would only take up one sheet and that of a rat would cover a postage stamp.

The fold marks visible outside the cortex or grey matter are called gyri. They are also known as grooves or fissures.

Rolando's fissure, longitudinal, and Silvio's fissure, transversal, outline the four cerebral lobes into which the cerebral cortex is divided, separate and symmetrical in the two hemispheres. The lobes take the name of the corresponding cranial bones, and in them there are areas with various functions:

- The occipital lobe is primarily made up of visual processing areas.

- The parietal lobe is primarily concerned with functions related to movement, orientation, calculation, and certain types of recognition.

- The temporal lobes are concerned with sound, understanding speech (usually only on the left side), and some aspects of memory.

- The frontal lobe handles the most integrated brain functions: thinking, conceptualising and planning. It also plays an important role in consciously feeling emotions.

In a high percentage of people, the circuits that encode for speech reside in the left brain. The left brain is also the writing hemisphere and is skilled at math ematics and spinning thoughts in a logical sequence, hence it is known as the dominant hemisphere. The left brain receives all sensory information directly from the right side of the body.

Correspondingly, the right brain, called the minor brain, receives all the infor mation from the left side of the body. The right hemisphere is known as a small er brain because it does not speak, writes poorly and is very logical, but it also has talents of its own: it is very good in the artistic world because it is capable of drawing and recognising shapes and faces much better than the left side.

2.

Cerebellum

This is a region of the brain that integrates all information received to coor dinate voluntary movements with respect to strength, direction and speed in relation to body balance. Anatomically, the cerebellum is attached to the posterior wall of the brain stem. It can weigh about 150 grams in adult individuals and is similar to a miniature brain.

3. Basal ganglia

Located deep in the centre of the brain and in connection with the limbic sys tem and the cerebral cortex. Its function is to monitor automatic movements, those that have been learned by repetition so that the conscious brain can take charge of other more important things, such as deciding how to direct those movements and learning new ones. The basal ganglia features the following:

- The putamen. The part of the basal ganglia that deals with automatic move ments. Tics, for example, are related to dysfunctions in the putamen's streams of activity.

The brain

- The caudate nucleus. It deals with certain aspects of automatic thinking. It drives us to automatically wash when we are dirty, it reminds us to check if the doors are closed before leaving the house, and alerts us and focuses our attention on anything that is out of place.

4.

Limbic system

The expression that we are animals is very common. This being the case, the limbic system would be our most animal part, involved in behaviours related to basic survival drives. Its strategic location in the brain allows it to send and receive information to and from other areas of the cortex.

The function of this structure, which is repeated in both hemispheres and locat ed just above the brain stem, is mainly to regulate both instinctual behaviours and vital biological functions and rhythms. It is currently considered to be re sponsible for memory, emotions, attention and learning.

The series of internal structures that make up the limbic system facilitate its function as a link between the most impulsive and the most rational brain. These structures include:

The amygdala, important in the recognition and identification of emotions. The brain’s alarm system, the central generator of states of mind that has evolved to help us survive when we are threatened.

The cingulate gyrus, fundamental in social decision making and voluntary cognitive actions.

The hypothalamus, hormones that circulate in the blood coordinate the different metabolic activities of the body. Nerve impulses from the central nervous system stimulate the hypothalamus, the focal point of the endocrine system, to send regulatory hormones to the pituitary gland. These, in turn, stimulate or inhibit the release of other hormones, ultimately responsible for activating different tissues in our body. Integrated into a hierarchical system of functions and directly related to the activity of the limbic system, the hypo thalamus controls vital functions such as body temperature, blood pressure, thirst, hunger or sexual reproduction.

The hippocampus, an area that extends from the hypothalamus to the amyg dala, forming a curved structure that reminded the first scientist to describe it of the silhouette of a seahorse (hence the name hippocampus). This struc ture is symmetrically repeated in both hemispheres of the brain. The hip pocampus performs fundamental functions related to memory and spatial perception. It seems to be that it intervenes in some way in the formation of new memories from experiences.

The brain

5. Brainstem

Located under the cerebral hemispheres, in front of the cerebellum, this elon gated structure is connected to all the other parts of the brain. It is the main communication pathway between the forebrain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves.

It is made up of the midbrain, the pons, and the medulla oblongata. It controls many of the body’s basic functions, such as motor skills, sensory activity, coor dination and gait, heartbeat, and breathing.

The physical brain

Despite the fact that its weight only represents between 0.8 and 2% of body mass (between 1.3 and 1.6 kg), it consumes 20% of the energy produced by our body, most of it on what we would call maintenance. Overall, its energy con sumption is more or less what the light of the refrigerator uses in our homes. The brain is the body tissue with the highest temperature. In the few studies

Hypothalamus and immune system. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Resources at the MEH Resource to check brain tem perature.

The brain

carried out in recent decades with animals and humans, it has been found that the brain temperature is between 0.39 and 2.5 ºC higher than the average in the blood, rectum, bladder or oesophagus.

The brain needs 20% of the oxygen that we breathe and a supply of between 3/4 and 1 litre of blood per minute to function. We will lose consciousness after 10 seconds without blood flow to the brain, and if we spend more than 6 min utes without breathing, the nerve cells will begin to die.

Lost memories

By the middle of the 20th century, brain researchers had given up looking for the place where memory is found. But in 1953 everything changed thansk to the work and grace of a 27-year-old young man suffering from a case of acute epilepsy, Henry Gustav Molaison, known since then by his initials: HM He had suffered terrible epileptic seizures since he was 16 years old, with no medica tion working. The last drastic and terrible resort was to remove large areas of his two temporal lobes.

The operation was a success. From then on they were able to control his epi leptic seizures with anti-convulsant drugs. But the price he paid was losing the ability to create long-term conscious explicit memories; he lost the ability to remember anything in his life that happened after the operation. He lived in the past. “HM doesn't know his age or today’s date; he doesn't know where he lives; nor the fact that his parents have long since died; nor does he know anything about his own life. He does not learn names, nor does he recognise the faces of the people he sees every day. Having aged since he underwent the operation, he does not recognise a photograph of himself. Henry Gustav Molaison, the most studied patient in neurology, died on December 2, 2008. He never knew how much he did for science.

Neurons

The brain is a complex forest of cells and the connections between them. It is made up of about 100,000 mil lion neurons of different shapes and sizes, each of which can receive con tacts from up to 100,000 different neurons and form numerous junctions with each of them. About 50 billion of those neurons are in the cerebral cor tex. There are more than 500 types of morphologically different neurons distributed in different areas. In addition to neurons, the brain also has glial cells (there are about 10 glial cells for each neuron) as well as blood vessels. This is the basic cellular network of the brain.

Neurons.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The brain

The neuron is made up of:

Dendrite The transmission of a nerve impulse from one neuron to another occurs from one axonal terminal to a dendrite of the next neuron, by releasing neurotransmitters that reactivate the electrical impulse.

Body. In the body of the neuron, as in all eukaryotic cells, we find organelles, microtubules, a nucleus, and genetic material (DNA).

Axon. The entry and exit of ions along the axon is the motor in the transmis sion of the electrical impulse from the dendrites to the axon terminal.

The junction between the axon of one neuron and the dendrites of another is called a synapse, although in the vast majority of cases they do not touch, but rather communicate with each other through the exchange of chemicals. The stimulus is transmitted as an electrical impulse throughout the inside of the neuron, and upon reaching the terminal axon it causes neurotransmitters to be released that are picked up by the next neuron, activating the electrical impulse again.

When we are born we have most of the neurons in our brain, but as we ac cumulate experiences and knowledge, the connections become increasingly complex and tangled, increasing the number of synapses with neighbouring neurons. New neurons are produced throughout the life of the individual, al though during the ageing period production is considerably reduced.

Synapse.

Resources at the MEH

Daniel Canogar made a structure in which he metaphorically represents the brain through a tangle of electrical ca bles. For this artist, the technologies we use mirror how we function. He used 500 kg of recycled cables of different thicknesses and three light projectors to create this great brain. Inside, the cables are the neurones, with the trans mission of information based on synap tic firings that occurs in our brain.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Brain of wires. Work by Daniel Canogar.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Inside the brain of wires. Work by Daniel Canogar.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The brain

Curiosities of the brain

The brain has an outstanding feature: it works constantly and never rests. Its function is permanent and constant from the first moment it begins to organ ise itself, a few days after birth, until death. It does not even rest in sleep or in illness or in any other circumstance. The brain is, therefore, a process in con stant and permanent change and functioning.

It is the greatest organisational complexity that we have ever known. And yet its basic function is for a seemingly simple goal: to keep the individual alive and in constant contact with the environment around them.

• According to experts, the brain has a structure determined, approximately 60%, by genetic inheritance. The remaining 40% depends on environmental influence.

• The human brain continues to grow until the age of 18.

• Human beings are believed to experience 70,000 thoughts every day.

• The brain is made up of 75% water.

• The human brain consists of about 60% white matter and 40% grey matter.

• There is a popular myth that humans only use 10% of our brains, when we ac tually use much more. Today scientists know that the entire brain is necessary for it to function normally.

• There are no pain receptors in the brain, so the brain cannot feel pain.

• The cerebral cortex grows thicker the more it is used.

• All energy consumption can be measured with the same unit of power: the watt. The brain uses only 12 watts, less than the light bulb in a refrigerator, but it can do much more. Every day the brain uses the amount of energy con tained in two large bananas. It's not a lot of power, but it is a large proportion of the entire body's energy budget, which is about 70 watts.

• Every time an idea is retrieved or a new thought is produced, a new connec tion is created in the brain.

• Studies show that when people are learning new things, their brains change very quickly.

• Memory is made up of associations. If we want to promote students’ memory, it is useful to create associations in the learning process.

• Yawning is a reflex action marked by various reasons still under study. One of them is the need to oxygenate the brain to remain attentive. Curiously, it is a social behaviour that we ‘catch’ when others around us yawn.

• Physical exercise helps the brain in old age. It keeps oxygen and glucose flow ing as a person ages.

The brain

• The brain gets rid of most of the information that it receives from outside once it has verified that it is not new.

• Every time we remember something, we erase and rewrite the memory. This means that we end up remembering things that have never really happened. This explains why different people often remember the same events differ ently.

• No one can tickle themselves. This is because your brain predicts what you will feel in response to your actions. You can take advantage of this to defend yourself from being tickled: simply put your hand on top of the other person's hand while they are doing it.

• After limb amputation, patients may feel the presence of a "phantom limb." This is because the brain has registered a map of the body and it takes some time to assimilate that the lost limb is gone.

brain

Glossary

Amygdala: Set of neuronal nuclei located inside the temporal lobes of the brain. The amygdala is part of the limbic system and its main function is to participate in the activation and management of emotions.

Axon: Long, thin projection of a neuron through which the nerve impulse travels unidirectionally, from the neuronal body to other cells.

Basal ganglia: Clusters of nerve cell bodies found near the base of the brain. They are associated with voluntary movements mainly carried out unconsciously.

Brain: Central area of the vertebrate nervous system, enclosed and protected in the cranial cavity and formed by the cerebrum, cerebellum, and medulla oblongata.

Brainstem: Part of the central nervous system that links the structures of the brain to the spinal cord. It also controls various functions including breathing, heart rate regulation, and primary aspects of sound localisation.

Broca, Paul Pierre: Bordeaux (France), June 28, 1824 - Paris (France), July 9, 1880. He was a French physician, anatomist and anthropologist. His name is associated with the designation of the area of the human brain (Broca's area) that controls language functions.

Cerebellum: Posterior area of the brain, made up of a mass of nervous tissue. Its function is to direct the individual’s motor activity.

Cerebrum: Upper and more voluminous part of the brain, made up of a mass of nervous tissue and which is responsible for cognitive and emotional functions and the control of vital activities such as movements, sleep, hunger, etc.

Cingulate gyrus: Part of the cerebral cortex located in the limbic system. It provides a pathway from the thalamus to the hippocampus, and appears to be responsible for associating memories with smells and pain.

Dendrite: Branched extensions from the body of a neuron and through which it receives nerve impulses from other neurons through synapses.

Hippocampus: An organ of the brain related to the consolidation of short-term memory into long-term memory. It extends from the inner aspect of the temporal lobe to the lower area of the lateral ventricle, in both brain hemispheres.

Hypothalamus: Region of the nervous system located at the base of the diencephalon, below the thalamus. It is the regulating centre of the functions of the vegetative nervous system.

Limbic system: The part of the brain located immediately below the cerebral cortex. It includes the thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala. It regulates emotions, memory, hunger and sexual instincts.

Neuron: Each of the cells that make up the nervous system. Formed by a cell body or soma, cytoplasmic processes called dendrites and an axial extension, the axon.

Synapse: This is the communication and interaction that neurons establish with each other, in order to transmit the nerve impulse that they have produced.

Wernicke, Carl: Tarnowitz (Prussia, now Poland), May 15, 1848 - Erfurt (Germany), June 15, 1905. German neurologist and psychiatrist known for his studies on aphasia or disturbances of expression and/or understanding caused by neuronal disorders. He established the relationship between the type of deficiency and the responsible region of the brain, known as Wernicke's area.

Educational mini-guides

Santiago Ramón y Cajal

Drawing of the "Calyces of Held" by Ramón y Cajal. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Santamaría, S., Moral, S., Alonso, R. 2020. "Santiago Ramón y Cajal". In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational miniguides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 160-169

Petilla de Aragón.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Santiago

Santiago Ramón y Cajal

Santiago Ramón y Cajal was born on 1st May 1952 in Petilla de Aragón, a munic ipality located within Aragonese territory but belonging to Navar Son of Justo Ramón and Antonia Cajal, he moved house constantly as a child, following in the footsteps of his father who, a surgeon by profession, was transferred from time to time.

Ramón y Cajal had an irregular academic life. During this time he developed a taste for drawing and an irreverent attitude that made him sharpen his wits to make up for the lack of resources when it came to practising his hobby. Draw ing became very useful for the anatomy lessons that his father gave him while he was in his final years of high school.

He studied Medicine in the Aragonese capital to which his entire family moved in 1870. After graduating at age 21, he was called up by the army. In order to be able to exercise his profession and leave his position as a soldier, he took a competitive examination in Military Health, which earned him the position of second doctor with the rank of lieutenant when he joined the Burgos regiment. Almost simultaneously, the order to go to Cuba and his promotion up the mil itary ladder would arrive. However, he soon became infected with malaria and then dysentery, transferred from one place to another until returning to Spain in June 1875, due to his diseases.

That same year he joined the staff of the University of Zaragoza, and began his doctorate, enrolled freely at the University of Madrid (current Complutense University). He obtained his doctorate in 1877 with the thesis entitled Patho genesis of inflammation

Did you know…?

The young Santiago Ramón y Cajal, in order to devote himself to his hobby of drawing and due to his lack of money to be able to buy brushes, watercolours or paper, looked for alternatives such as scraping coloured walls, soaking printed paper to obtain colours or making brushes by wetting the paper and gradually letting the colour out.

Ramón y Cajal at age 25.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

To improve his financial situation in the early years of his marriage, Cajal also gave private lessons. Another of his hobbies was a great alternative source of income, photography. With a photosensitive silver formula, he obtained high quality plates. The couple set up a small workshop for its production and subsequent sale to photographers in Zaragoza.

Did you know…?

Ramón y Cajal paid for his first microscope, thanks to the payments he received from the army when he returned from Cuba, which at that time was a Spanish province.

In one of the showcases in this area you can see a specimen like Cajal's first microscope.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

In 1878 he tried to win the chair of Descriptive and General Anatomy at the University of Zaragoza, which he did not succeed in obtaining. His health then deteriorated and his father sent him to the Panticosa spa resort. When he re turned that autumn, he resigned from the post of doctor that his father had managed for him and, disobeying him, he applied to become the director of the Museum of the Faculty of Medicine in Zaragoza.

In 1880 and 1881 he published his first works Investigaciones experimentales sobre la inflamación en el mesenterio, la córnea y el cartílago (Experimen tal investigations on inflammation in the mesentery, cornea and cartilage), based on his thesis, and Observa ciones microscópicas sobre las ter minaciones nerviosas en los músculos voluntarios (Microscopic observations on nerve endings in voluntary mus cles) He himself would describe them as mediocre, although they would be the seeds of his later work. Also noteworthy are the drawings with which they were documented, a hobby that Ramón y Cajal perfected over time.

On December 5, 1883, he obtained the chair of Anatomy at the University of Valencia and the following year he took office. Quickly, he fell into city life, which had a more lively scientific and cultural scene than the Aragonese capital. Al though he enjoyed a certain economic stability, he had to struggle to maintain his small laboratory, so he organised a course in Normal and Pathological His tology. Cajal was developing an interest in Microbiology. In fact, when in 1885 Valencia suffered a cholera epidemic, all his research focused on it.

C. Verick Microscope. Original box, two lenses in their case and an eyepiece. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Installation with illustrations by Ramón y Cajal. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Ferrán vaccinating in Alzira. La Ilustración Nacional, 1885.

Did you know…?

The social alarm that this cholera outbreak caused led the Provincial Council of Zaragoza to propose an investigation commission with Ramón y Cajal at its head. This institution, in gratitude for the work done, gave him a much better microscope than the one he had.

Later, he returned to the study of Histology as, among other things, the costs were much lower than for Bacteriology. In addition, in 1884, he published the first article of the Manual de Histología Normal y Técnica Micrográfica (Text book of Normal Histology and Micrographic Technique). Writing textbooks provided a source of extra income for professors. This project forced him to structure his work and present his findings. The work was finished in 1889. This work denotes a clear improvement in his scientific and professional status, since the publication expenses were borne by a com mercial publisher and not by himself.

From 1880 he also published his discoveries abroad. The tactic used by Ramón y Cajal for this purpose, was to publish an advance with the most relevant con clusions in Spanish in short-run and low-circulation magazines, then, expand them in French in international magazines, mostly German.

In 1887, he travelled to Madrid to become president of an opposition tribunal. It was then, in the laboratory that Luis Simarro had at his home, where Cajal came to learn about Camillo Golgi's method to be able to dye nerve tissues. It con sisted of immersing a piece in potassium dichromate and osmic acid and then bathing it in silver nitrate. The problem is that the mixture was unreliable, the technique had to be improved. To this end, Cajal relied on his extensive back ground because he used the knowledge he had accumulated in his youth thanks to his photographic plates.

In 1888 he took over the chair of Histology at the University of Barcelona, where he was well received. Thanks to the dean, he was able to teach the subject in practical sessions.

Little by little he improved the Golgi method, he even changed it to obtain re sults more quickly. Cajal's studies showed that there is no such thing as a con tinuous network, but that nerve tissue is made up of independent cells making contact between the axons of some cells and the cell bodies and dentrites of others. Microscopic observation of these tissues also made it possible to define

First Edition of Textura del Sistema Nervioso.

Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

Golgi’s publications became known internationally. All tissues seemed to conform to his theories except nerve tissue. Cajal began to work systematically with Golgi’s techniques and found evidence for the individuality of these cells, first in the brain and later in areas of the retina, olfactory bulb, and spinal cord. Golgi was offended that an unknown Spaniard debunked his theories that supported the existence of a network or reticulum. The controversy between the two reached its peak in Stockholm, in 1906, at the awarding of the Nobel Prize that they both received.

the structures and cell types in each area. Later Ramón y Cajal also devoted himself to the study of the retina, another of his interests.

He gradually proved his worth as a researcher by obtaining functional conse quences from his microscopic observations, especially with "the principle of dynamic polarisation of neurons ”. His merit was not only that he was a good technician and a remarkable observer and descriptor, but that he also reflected deeply on his observations, so that after documenting them, he could testify to them.

From 1889 he developed his research work looking at the spinal cord. Studies were done on embryos following the ontogenetic method, which allowed Cajal to follow the modifications of neurons and glial cells in the growth process. He identified and described the growth cone, the very end of a cell’s expansion, which is prolonged and inserted among other cellular elements to form the dentrite or axon of the mature cell.

Illustration by Ramón y Cajal. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Neuron. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Camillo Golgi. © www.historiadelamedicina.org

Did you know…?

Nobel Prizes are an international recognition awarded by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm (Sweden), and based on the fortune of Alfred Nobel, a Swedish inventor and entrepreneur.

There are several awards: Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature and Economic Sciences. They are presented in an official ceremony every December 10th in the Blue Hall of the Stockholm City Hall. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway.

Ramón y Cajal's work between 1888 and 1892 is very thorough and lays the foundations for the study of the microscopic anatomy of the nervous system. It proves the independence of the nerve cells, describes the structure of numer ous nerve centres, detailing and classifying the cell types and establishing the various layers. He investigated the orientation and direction of nerve stimula tion in cells and centres, and suggested hypotheses to explain the mechanisms of neuronal growth and differentiation.

Although he translated most of his work into French, the jump to the interna tional arena would not come until he attended the congress of the German Society of Anatomy in Berlin, and convinced the master of German Histology "Kölliker" of his findings. This led Cajal to become a leader in Neurohistology. He held the chair of Histology and Normal Histochemistry and Pathological Anatomy of the Central University of Madrid in 1892, accompanied by growing institutional support for his research. His move to the Spanish capital also al lowed him to immerse himself in a richer scientific and academic environment. He attended the classes of the most notable professors at the university and established a relationship with the faculty of the University of Medicine. He continued his career in such a way that he became a member of different in stitutions with research interests such as the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences in 1897, the year in which he also began a treatise that brought together all his knowledge of the histology of the nervous system.

With the disaster of 1898, there was a small break in his research work which did not last long either, as in 1899 there was an outbreak of plague in Porto which led the Spanish authorities to create the Alfonso XIII Institute of Suerotherapy, Vaccination and Bacteriology, which carried out remarkable health work. His work and his contribution to Neuroscience were recognised with multiple awards and recognitions, until he was finally awarded the Nobel Prize in Medi cine in 1906, alongside the Italian scientist Camillo Golgi.

Santiago Ramón y Cajal

Area dedicated to the neuron. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Area dedicated to Ramón y Cajal and the brain. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Cajal

Nobel Prize Ceremony.

Between 1905 and 1908, Ramón y Cajal predicted the regeneration of nervous tissues with experiments based on the section of the sciatic nerve of young animals, performing various manipulations with the nerve endings. Neural plas ticity, the regenerative capacity of nerve cells and their endings, is a widely accepted idea today, contrary to what that until then had been accepted as a doctrine: that neurons did not regenerate.

Ramón y Cajal died on October 17, 1934 in Madrid. Before that, he developed a taste for literature in The World Seen at Eighty, and also prepared a new edition of his textbook on the Histology of the Nervous System. Unfortunately, just before he died the notes were stolen, which was a great sorrow for the already sick scientist.

Santiago Ramón

www.nobelprize.org

Santiago Ramón y Cajal. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Fifty pesetas bill with the image of Ramón y Cajal. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government

Neuroscience

Have you thought about the consequences of not getting enough sleep? How does the use of new technologies affect our brain? How can you train to im prove your memory? All these are questions whose answer can be found in neuroscience, which tries to understand how the brain’s activity is related to the mind and our behaviours.

Understanding how the brain works is essential to be able to understand our behaviours and the processes that happen in our nervous system for them to take place. In this way we can understand and improve learning, understand our emotions and manage them, or investigate diseases of the nervous system, both psychiatric and neurological. The latter worries us more and more because our life expectancy is higher. As our brains reach older age, this can sometimes cause diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's to develop. Through neuro science these diseases can increasingly be diagnosed and treated earlier. All these issues are also being worked on from a genetic point of view.

Ramón y Cajal, considered one of the fathers of neuroscience, developed the doctrine of the neuron at the end of the 19th century. In this he described the "butterflies of the soul” in detail, as he called neurons.

Today neurosciences give us the opportunity to study the nervous system as a whole and at the same time from different points of view. In this way, we get to know each other better so that we can take care of ourselves and have a better future.

Did you know…?

Until 2014, when the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that neurons regenerated, it was thought that they died and did not recover. The brain went from being considered a static system to one in constant change, which in turn has made it possible to open up numerous lines of treatment and research. In fact, proof that neurons regenerate is evident today, in the fact that the brain can be stimulated as a real therapeutic tool in chronic diseases as devastating as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's.

Glossary

Alzheimer's:

This is a neurodegenerative disease that manifests itself as cognitive impairment and behavioural disorders. It is characterised in its typical form by a loss of immediate memory and other mental abilities, as nerve cells (neurons) die and different areas of the brain atrophy.

Axon:

This is an extension of neurons specialised in conducting a nerve impulse from the cell body to another cell. In the adult neuron it is a single prolongation.

Cholera:

An acute intestinal disease, which produces secretory diarrhoea characterised by stools similar to rice water, a high amount of sodium, bicarbonate and potassium, and a low amount of protein.

Dentrite:

These are branched protoplasmic processes of the neuron mainly dedicated to receiving stimuli and, secondarily, to cell feeding. They are the terminals of neurons, and serve as receptors for nerve impulses from an axon belonging to another neuron.

Their main function is to receive impulses from other neurons and send them to the cell body of the neuron.

Dysentery:

An inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially the colon, which causes severe diarrhoea that contains mucus and/or blood in the stool. If left untreated it can be fatal.

Histology:

This is the discipline that studies everything related to organic tissues: their microscopic structure, their development and their functions. Histology is sometimes called Microscopic Anatomy, since its study does not stop at tissues, but goes further, also observing cells and other corpuscles internally, relating to Biochemistry and Cytology.

Malaria:

A life-threatening disease caused by parasites transmitted to humans through the bite of infected female mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles

It can be difficult to recognise early symptoms (fever, headache, chills and vomiting), which can be mild.

Neuron:

These are a type of cells in the nervous system whose main function is the electrical excitability of their plasma membrane. They are specialised in receiving stimuli and conducting the nerve impulse (in the form of an action potential) to each other or other cell types, such as the muscle fibres of the motor endplate. Highly differentiated, most neurons do not divide once they are mature; however, a minority do.

Ontogenic Method:

This describes the development of an organism, from the fertilization of a zygote during sexual reproduction through the adult form to its senescence.

Parkinson’s:

A chronic neurodegenerative disorder that leads to progressive disability over time, produced as a result of destruction, for reasons that are still unknown. Often classified as a movement disorder, Parkinson’s disease also triggers alterations in cognitive function, in the expression of emotions, and in autonomic function.

Glossary

Retina:

In vertebrates this is a light sensitive tissue located on the inner surface of the eye. It is similar to a canvas that images are projected onto. The light that hits the retina triggers a series of chemical and electrical phenomena that are turned into nerve impulses sent to the brain by the optic nerve.

Sciatic nerve:

The largest and longest nerve in the body. This nerve innervates the posterior aspect of the thigh and of the entire leg, except for a narrow internal strip innervated by the internal saphenous nerve.

Spinal cord:

A long white cord located in the vertebral canal, responsible for carrying nerve impulses to the 31 pairs of spinal nerves, communicating the brain with the body, through two basic functions: the afferent, in which sensations are carried from the trunk, neck and the four limbs to the brain, and the efferent, in which the brain orders the effector organs to perform a certain action, taking these impulses to the trunk, neck and limbs. Its functions also include the control of immediate and vegetative movements, such as reflexes, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

Educational mini-guides

Technological evolution

“Excalibur” handaxe, mode 2. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Pérez, M.A., Moral, S., Alonso, R. 2020. "Technological evolution". In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational miniguides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 170-178

Did you know…?

the

started to be made, the

Lithic technology is the ability to produce tools from stone (flint, quartzite, quartz...etc.) for everyday use. They are one of the main forms of archaeological evidence that tell us about cultural and technological aspects of our ancestors.

The oldest lithic technology comes from Lomekwi (Kenya), is around 3.3 million years old and consists of simple flakes, cores and hammerstones.

Outcrop of flint. Flint was the preferred type of stone for making tools in prehistoric times.

© Drawing: Eduardo Sáiz

NATURAL FACTORS

RAIN FOREST

Climate change

SAVANNAH

- Less edible vegetables - Open space

- Living with carnivores

What are the preconditions for the expansion of technology?

CULTURAL FACTORS

NATURAL SELECTION. MUTATIONS

BIPEDALISM

MEAT CONSUMPTION

BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

HANDS FREED

TECHNOLOGY

Bipedalism. Walking upright allowed hominins to free their hands and use them in technological activities.

Meat consumption. The systematic incorporation of proteins of animal origin caused important developments in the brain and changes in the digestive sys tem, which got smaller.

3.3 million years ago, hominins began to develop processes to transform stones to obtain cutting edges.

Lower position in the trophic scale with respect to most carnivores, which is manifested in the absence of claws and proper dentition.

Hominins, unlike other primates, not only use elements of the natural environ ment (edges, branches, etc.) as tools, but have also been able to modify these elements (by beating, breaking, etc.) to produce tools.

1Increased human sociability

Human behaviour is based on a con stant increase in sociability through technological advances.

The advantages of making and using tools

4Better use of food

With stone tools the remains of large prey abandoned by other predators can be better used. Tough skins can be pierced and bones broken to reach the marrow

2Optimisation of hunting

A key advantage of having tools is being able to hunt more effectively. These extensions of the human arm allowed a greater number of prey to be caught, although initially small in size.

3Broader diet

The importance of hunting comes from the resulting improvement in the diet, since the proteins in meat products contribute to brain devel opment.

7Increased brain capacity

The ability to make tools contributed to increasing the complexity of the brain.

5More efficient working of raw materials

Lithic instruments make it possible to work with raw materials such as wood efficiently. Sharpening a branch is impossible without a cutting edge.

6Beginning of imaginative capacity

Creating a tool is not a trivial act. First you have to realise that it is necessary. Then, taking into account one’s life experience, it is designed in the brain and finally it is made. Our ability to imagine and plan is related to the emergence and development of technology.

Advantages of using tools.

© Illustration by Dbolit. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The method for developing the tools is different according to the period, which researchers have classified into technological modes.

MODE 1

INVENTION OF THE EDGE

• Oldowan (Lower Palaeolithic). It is named after the African site of the Olduvai Gorge.

• Traditionally, the first tools linked to mode 1 have been associated with Homo habilis.

• Known in Africa for 2.6 million years, reaching Europe more than 1 million years ago.

• It is characterised by shaping tools on the outside edge to obtain a sharp edge with small flakes.

MODE 2

THE DISCOVERY OF SYMMETRY

• Acheulean (Lower Palaeolithic)

• It reached Europe 600,000 years ago and is named after the French site of Saint Acheul.

• The tools are made on large stone flakes, and the most common are the handaxe, the cleaver and the pick. They are very versatile tools whose edges can be sharpened if necessary.

• The peculiar shape of the handaxes, their symmetry, and manufacturing sug gest an important capacity for abstraction, imagination and planning.

MODE 3

INDUSTRIAL STANDARDISATION

• Mousterian (Middle Palaeolithic). Its name comes from the rocky shelter of Le Moustier (France).

• It has been known for 300,000 years in Europe and is characterised by the fact that they are produced with small flakes, with a great variety of systems to obtain standardised products and retouched tools, such as racloirs, dentic ulate tools, scrapers, notched tools or points. The Levallois technique is also worth noting.

How many technological modes have been established associated with the Paleolithic? What are their characteristics?

Unifacial knapping.

Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Bifacial knapping.

Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Levallois method.

Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Europe, the different human species developed these technological modes:

Technological evolution

MODE 4 THE TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION

• Laminar technology.

• This is equated with the Upper Paleolithic and is a tool on micro-size blade, with roughly retouched blades and points and points with flat retouching (partially modifying one of its edges).

• The pressure flaking technique is noteworthy.

The most characteristic tools are blades, which are standardised flakes whose length is twice their width.

Homo sp. and Homo antecessor

Did you know…?

In 2015, an international team found stone tools dating back 3.3 million years at the Lomekwi 3 site (Kenya). These tools, in space-time terms, are associated with Pliocene hominins (Australopithecus or Kenyanthropus) and a forest ecosystem, thus breaking with the idea that the first tools were made by Homo habilis in an environment of climate change and expansion of the savannah. The discoverers proposed the name "Lomekwian" to refer to this type of tool.

Homo sapiens

Homo heidelbergensis

Homo heidelbergensis and Homo neanderthalensis

Laminar knapping. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government

Were other materials used to produce prehistoric tools?

Although prehistoric technology is often associated with stone tools, more perishable materials were probably extensively used: bone, antler, ivory, and wood. We have found examples not made by our species such as the wooden spears of Schöningen (Germany, 300,000 years), the pointed wood of Aran baltza (Spain, 90,000 years) or the negative of a wooden spatula from the Abric Romani (Spain, 55,000 years)

In the Upper Paleolithic, these industries grew with the appearance of specific tools to carve bone, such as burins. The most common tools made of other ma terials are spears, harpoons with one or two rows of teeth, simple and eye nee dles, and a wide variety of awls and points. Other instruments would be per forated sticks for making straight shafts, spatulas, spear throwers, chisels and rods. There are tools decorated with grouped notches that may represent the earliest known mathematical objects, such as the Ishango bone (Republic of the Congo, 20,000 years) or the Lebombo bone (South Africa, 37,000 years).

Excavation of a Schöningen spear. © Museum Paläon. Schöningen.

Bone awl © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Limestone lamp. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government

Negative and reproduction of a wooden spatula.

IPHES.

Resources at the MEH

The museum has four videos that show us how these tools were made. There is also a showcase exhibiting typical tools of the different modes.

Traceology and experimental archaeology

Traceology studies what different tools were used for, in order to reconstruct the way hominins lived. This is done by analysing alterations of the edges, marks and use-wear traces that remain on them, using high resolution microscopes. It's about finding out what they were used for.

Bone wear mark on a flint flake. Image taken with an incident light optical microscope.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Experimental archaeology reconstructs the use and mode of obtaining all kinds of objects made by humans in the past. To do this, it experimentally reconstructs those objects, uses and techniques and compares them with the original objects, assessing the forms, gestures and strategies used to make them.

Experimental archaeology. © IPHES.

Glossary

Awl: Cylindrical polished tool sharpened at one end in order to pierce wood, leather, etc.

Burin: Lithic instrument achieved by means of sagittal retouching, whose flat and resistant edge allows us to work with stone, bone or wood.

Cleaver: Tool knapped symmetrically on both sides that has a straight edge at one end.

Core: Result of a stone (quartzite, flint, etc.), which has been knapped, in order to obtain flakes for later use.

Denticulate: A stone tool made on a flake or blade, which has an edge with various notches simulating a saw.

Flake: Fragment of stone detached by striking or crushing a nodule or core.

Flint: A very hard stone formed mainly by silica and that forms very sharp edges when broken. It is characterised by its great qualities for knapping and its chromatic varieties. It is the most used material throughout prehistory.

Hammerstone: Instrument used as a hammer to strike both cores and flakes. Generally, pebbles were used as hammerstones.

Handaxe: Tool knapped on both sides to achieve a bilaterally symmetrical tool, with two cutting edges that meet at one point.

Harpoon: Point with one or two rows of saw teeth.

Levallois technique: Method of obtaining flakes, blades or points whose morphology and dimensions are predetermined by specially preparing the cores.

Needles: Point that has a hole at one of its ends.

Paleolithic: Etymologically ancient stone. It ranges from 2.5 million years ago to 10,000 years ago. It is characterised by making stone tools by striking them.

Racloir: Prehistoric lithic tool made on a flake with an edge that features continuous and regular retouching.

Scraper: Lithic instrument on flakes where a prominent edge has been generated by means of retouching. Used in leather tanning.

Spatula: Long bone, trimmed and polished, like a paddle.

Spear thrower: Hunting instrument that allowed one to throw a spear or javelin at a great distance.

Technology: Our ability to modify the resources provided by the natural environment in which we live.

Educational mini-guides

Fire

Mahave, C., Moral, S., Alonso, R. 2020. "Fire". In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 179-185

Castile and Leon.

What is fire?

According to the Royal Spanish Academy, fire is "a phenomenon characterised by the emission of heat and light, generally with a flame." Expanding the defi nition a little further, one could also define fire as a set of incandescent parti cles and molecules of combustible matter, capable of emitting visible light, the product of a violent chemical oxidation reaction.

It is a transforming element of nature, as it destroys landscapes that will be replaced by new living beings. It occurs frequently in dry forests, such as the Mediterranean or in savannah environments during the dry season, where it plays an important role.

Human beings have lived with this element since its origin. Surely the reaction of our early ancestors to a fire caused by a thunderstorm would be to flee the scene, as most animals on the planet do. However, 1.8 million years ago, our ancestors' relationship with this element began to change.

The first archaeological evidence of the exploitation of natural fires by hom inins have been found in African sites such as Koobi-Fora (Kenya) and Swart krans (South Africa).

Advantages of using fire. © Illustration by Dbolit. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

Even the smoke produced by fire benefitted hominins.

• Smoking food to preserve it for a longer time.

• Smoking spaces as a method to prevent insects such as mosquitoes or wasps.

• Smoke and bonfires as a communication system between groups that share a space.

Use of fire and its benefits

The use of fire led to a number of important improvements in the lives of the hominins:

• Cooking: facilitates chewing and digesting food and allows better access to meat in ecosystems where quality vegetables are lacking.

• Heat source: improvement of the quality of life, especially of physically vul nerable populations such as children, the elderly or the sick.

• Light source: as diurnal animals, the search for food would take place in the light of the sun, but human activity would not end at night thanks to this element.

• Socialising element: those hours of extra light facilitated the exchange of ideas and knowledge and accelerated our ability to communicate and learn, contributing to the formation of myths, traditions and rituals that would be reflected, for example, in works of rock art.

• Protection: it means being able to use spaces without being conditioned by the presence of other animals.

• Heat treatment in making tools: this involved hardening wooden spear heads or improvement flint knapping.

• Habitat cleanliness: by burning waste, infections caused by the presence of animals such as rats or mice are prevented.

• Expansion of the habitat: possibility of occupying cold places.

Fire changed the way of life for human groups and created dependency on this element. It is thought that its conservation, transport and care could be associated with the elite, and probably required collaboration and discipline from the group members. The goal was to prevent it from going out. If this happened, they would have to wait until there was a natural fire again to regain these benefits.

Did you know…?

In Roman civilisation, women took care of fire in the domestic sphere and the vestal virgins tended the divine fire. If it went out, in both cases, it was an omen of tragedy. In the case of divine fire, the Senate had to be convened and it had to be lit by the action of the sun. The guardian virgin could be harshly punished.

It is possible that at this time the idea of fire as a sacred element stolen from nature came about, and that many centuries later, important civilizations fea tured it in their temples and traditions.

• For the Egyptians, the fire deity was the same as that of the sun: Ra, impli cated in the origin of life.

• For the Greeks, Hephaestus was the god of fire, who was also the god of metalworking.

• For the Celts, the goddess of fire, Brigid, was also the one of art, poetry and responsible for protecting young women, children and herds.

• In India, the fire god Agni had two heads, representing the positive and nega tive aspects of it. He was also the god of wisdom and the messenger between men and gods.

Representation of the god Ra. © www.metmuseum.org

Passing of the Olympic flame for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Agni, Indian god of fire. © www.sobreindia.com

Flint flakes and pyrites.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

In conclusion, almost all of the planet’s ancient societies and cultures bestow a divine character on fire and it is a fact that, although not all the peoples of the planet live in the same way (there are still hunters and gatherers), all the present-day cultures control it.

Controlling fire: how it can be done

Combining information extracted from archaeological sites, experimental ar chaeology and ethnographic parallels, we know of two great systems for pro ducing fire during prehistoric times: rock percussion and wood friction.

Percussion fire making:

This consists of repeatedly striking a flint flake against a rock rich in iron oxide, such as pyrite or marcasite. When these elements are struck, sparks are pro duced that can ignite an element that burns easily, for example manure, plant fibre or pieces of fungus, which must be dry. The spark ignited on the dry ele ment generates a small ember.

One hand holds a piece of tinder on a flint flake. The other holds pyrite. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Wood friction fire making:

Whole and part tinder fungus.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Two types of wood are involved: One in the shape of a straight cane, made of hard wood such as laurel, oak or beech, and another in the shape of a splint and made of soft wood, such as poplar. The splint should have V-shaped notches. The technique consists of rotating the cane in the notch in the splint, with the hands or with a bow, to generate heat. With the rotation, sawdust is released which, when in contact with the heat, ignites and forms a small ember.

On the left, elements used in friction fire making: bow, drill, talus bone and splint.

Above, friction fire making.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

Today there are groups of hunter-gatherers who live in a similar way to the Paleolithic people. By observing and studying these groups, we can know how our ancestors behaved. This is called an ethnographic parallel.

Embers (from percussion and friction) are placed between materials that burn easily such as nests dried plant fibre, in which there is pollen from plants such as bulrush. By blowing on the embers, the nest burns and is capable of igniting wood in a bonfire.

Nest made of plant fibre and river reed pollen.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Once you have the recipe for making fire, it becomes an element that can be controlled. Its use then became popular.

Resources at the MEH

Fire through time

The MEH has special spaces in which the aim is to generate sen sations in its visitors. This is the case of the fire room, where a 360º short is projected, with image and sound only, that narrates what fire has meant for humanity from prehistory to the present. It is spectacular, both inside and out.

Location and expansion

Traditionally, the small areas of reddened earth documented in the Kenyan sites of Koobi Fora and Chesowanja, dated about 1.5 million years, have been pro posed as the oldest evidence of the use (not control) of fire, probably taking advantage of the flames of natural fires caused by high temperatures or a light ning strike.

Since the 80s the South African cave of Swartkrans has been proposed as the oldest evidence of controlling fire, due to the high temperature reached in the burned bones that appear there. However, it is not entirely clear where the burned material came from, so its chronology (currently between 1.5 and 1 million years) is also unclear. Despite this, new research on the South African Wonderwerk cave and the Spanish Cueva Negra support the possibility that around a million years ago human groups had started to control fire thanks to the remains of ash, burnt bones and stones that appear inside both places, and whose position and temperature reached do not seem natural.

Other sites with ancient evidence of the use and control of fire throughout the planet are Gesher Benot Ya'aqov and Qesem (Israel) with possible hearths (de limited areas for burning) from 780,000 years ago and 350,000 years ago re

Projection Fire through the Ages. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

Bonfires differ from natural fires because, apart from being delimited, the temperatures reached are higher than in natural fires, since the flame is constantly rekindled.

Human species before us had such control of fire that they knew how to burn wood to make it harden. An example of this is found in a German site called Schöningen, where wooden spears dating back 450,000 years, made by Homo heildelbergensis, have been found.

spectively, or Zhoukoudian (China), where ashes, tools and burned bones point to its control between 0.5-1 million years ago. In Europe, between 450,000 and 200,000 years ago there are several sites such as Menez-Dregan and Terra Amata in France, Schöningen and Bilzingsleben in Germany, Torre in Pietra in Italy or Cueva del Angel and Bolomor in Spain where the presence of fire is undeniable.

Wooden spear found in the Schöningen site (Germany). © wikipedia.org.

Location and chronology of sites with evidence of fire. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Glossary

Bonfire: Fire made in the open air with combustible materials that create a lot of flame.

Bulrush: Plant that grows in swampy places, up to two meters high, with cylindrical stems and no nodes. Its flowers are shaped like a solid, hairy spike.

Coal: This is the result of the final moments of combustion of the wood. That is, when a fire has disappeared and the flame has been extinguished, leaving only incandescence.

Ember: A piece of coal, firewood or other combustible material that burns without a flame.

Hearth: Fire delimited in space. It can have different functions such as the place where the fire is made in kitchens, fireplaces, foundry ovens, etc.

Marcasite: Mineral of the group of sulphides. Its name comes from the Arabic marcaxita. It is made up of sulphur and iron and looks very similar to pyrite.

Pyrite: Mineral of the group of sulphides, composed of sulphur and iron. Its name derives from the Greek root pyr (fire), since when struck with metals it emits sparks.

Tinder: Very dry matter that burns easily, whether natural or prepared.

Educational mini-guides

Hunters and gatherers of the Pleistocene

Manzanal, S., Puente, O., Alonso, R. 2020. "Hunters and gatherers of the Pleistocene." In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 186-193

Illustration of one of the huts found in Mezhyrich (Ukraine). © Dolni Vestonice Museum.

Did you know…?

It is difficult to know the actual number of individuals that made up a group, but estimates can be made based on the study of current hunter-gatherer groups, such as the indigenous populations of the Ama zon or the Eskimos of Greenland.

Hunter-gatherers of the Pleistocene

Hunters and gatherers of the Pleistocene

For most of our history humans have been nomads, mobile societies without a fixed settlement that populated a territory.

Besides being nomads, another characteristic of these groups is that they practised a predatory economy, not producing food. These are human socie ties that practised hunting and gathering as a means of subsistence.

Hunter-gatherers exploit the environment in which they live and obtain all the necessary resources for life and social reproduction, by practising:

- Hunting.

- Fishing.

- Gathering fruits and molluscs.

- Scavenging.

Its organisation is based on very strong and close social and group ties. In general, these societies were made up of tribes, families or clans with a small number of members: about 30 individuals

Did you know…?

There are findings that reveal that Neanderthals and modern humans lived together, which may have allowed cultural and genetic exchanges between the two groups. DNA analysis of 200 bone samples from 40 archaeo logical sites from Russia to Spain confirm this.

Their dispersion and increase in population gradually grew, so that different groups were able to interact by sharing resources or competing for hunting and gathering territories.

At the end of the Pleistocene, Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens co existed in Europe. Both are hunter-gatherers, and form small groups that move through the territory looking for food, raw materials and shelter.

With the arrival of Homo sapiens in Europe, Neanderthals disappeared, and be came extinct. It is hard to say the specific reason, since a set of circumstances could have influenced this. Some of the main theories raised are:

- Competition and efficiency of exploiting the territory.

- Specific diseases.

- Little genetic exchange in small groups.

- Migrations due to the weather.

- Overly specialised diet of the Neanderthals.

Recreation of a 350,000-year-old camp. Gran Dolina, Sierra de Atapuerca. © Illustration by Eduardo Saiz. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Current nomadic people.

Eskimos. © Ansgar Walk, 1999.

Bedouin. © W. Robrecht, 2007.

Bushmen. © Lisa Gra, 2007.

Nomads of Tibet. © Philipp Roelli, 2005

At present, it is estimated that around 40 million people live in nomadic vil lages, such as indigenous societies in Tibet or Mongolia, Eskimo hunter-gath erers in Greenland, Amazonian populations in South America, Chichimecas in Mexico, Tuareg shepherds in the Sahara, Arab Bedouins, groups of the Gypsy people, and so on.

An ethnic group in danger of extinction are the Hadza of Tanzania; they speak a click language unrelated to other languages and are one of the oldest human lineages. In the last 50 years they have lost 90% of their territory.

Did you know…?

The oldest evidence of habitat conditioning is a site in Olduvai, Tanzania, dated to 1.8 million years ago. It is an alignment of stones forming a semicircle that has been interpreted as the base of a parapet to protect them from the wind.

For a long time it was believed that Pleistocene societies were purely cave-dwellers. But current research has been able to find a large number of temporary openair settlements, changing how we think of them.

Where and how hunter-gatherers lived

The use of shelters or cabins is directly related to environmental factors such as the relief, the climate or the materials available; and also cultural, such as the number of members of a group and their activities.

From the remains at archaeological sites (intentional accumulations of stones, post holes, areas of lithic knapping, homes, etc.) it is possible to guess what their daily life was like in their camps, which could be found in caves, rock shelters or open-air settlements.

Since these hunter-gatherers were nomads, the temporary nature of their camps was conditioned by seasonality due to the climate (such as winter or summer hunting grounds or refuges) and the very migratory dynamics of the herds of animals they hunted.

These groups adapted well to the environment, shaping their camps to take advantage of caves or rocky shelters, and if these did not exist, outdoors by building habitable structures, such as huts. Building huts wasn’t difficult, which allowed them to move settlement quickly and with minimal effort, but always taking into account the proximity to a water supply source.

Most daily activities would be done outdoors, while caves, shelters or huts would preferably be used as shelter.

Did you know…?

In the Siberian steppes, where there are no caves or natural shelters, and wood is very scarce, the frame of huts was built with mammoth bones and was com plemented by earthen walls that could be covered with hides.

Hunter-gatherers of the Pleistocene

Organisation of a Paleolithic camp

Some sites show us how these groups organised the spaces into:

- Knapping areas and spaces where weapons and tools were prepared.

- Prey cutting, preparation and skinning area.

- Meat and fish drying and smoking area.

- Wood storage areas.

- Places of residence or dwellings with smaller homes.

1 2 3

Hide hut built inside the cave of Lazareth, in Nice (France), 130,000 years:

Plan 11 m long by 3.5 m wide. Made with hides and branches. Leaning against a cave wall.

Proposed reconstruction of the hut at Pincevent (France), 14,000 years old.

Circular plan with post holes. Built with sticks and hides. - Conical roof.

Mammoth hut in Mezhirich (Ukraine) about 15,000 years old:

Oval or circular, about 5 m in diam eter.

Foundations made of interlocking skulls and jaw bones, sometimes following geometric patterns.

A solid base of large mammoth bones.

Lighter upper structure probably covered in hides.

© http://www.museumkiev.org/indexeng.html

This link takes you on a virtual visit to the reconstruction of a hut built with mammoth bones.

Examples of hut building from archaeological evidence

The image that Neanderthals only lived in extremely cold territories does not fit archaeological reality. These groups populated the Levantine Corridor, from Gibraltar (United Kingdom), Cova Negra or Bolomor (Spain) to Kebara, Tabun or Amud (Israel). The oldest dates are about 150,000 years ago, but most of these sites are about 60,000 to 40,000 years old.

Neanderthal camps

More than 70 Neanderthal sites have been found in Eurasia, the most abundant in Western Europe and the most modern in the south of the Iberian Peninsula. That is, from Iberia to Siberia, including the Middle East.

Did you know…?

To date, no Neanderthal remains have been discovered in Africa.

Did you know…?

The inside of these places was made suitable for everyday life through very significant struc tures and improvements:

Elevation of small walls.

Paving the floors with stones and edges to prevent humidity. Construction of small huts in side as indicated by the pres ence of post holes in the Israeli site of Kebara.

The archaeological remains found suggest that during the end of the Pleisto cene, coinciding with the coldest times, Neanderthals’ temporary settlements were located in:

Caves such as L'Hortus, Baume des Peryards, Le Moustier, La Chapelle aux Saints (France), El Castillo cave or El Sidrón (Spain), etc. Rock shelters such as La Ferrasie, Pech de l'Azé (France); Abrigo de Na valmaillo, Abric Romaní (Spain), etc.

Recreation of the Galería de las Estatuas, approximately 50,000 years ago, Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos).

© Illustration by Pilar 3D. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

There is very little archaeological evidence of temporary outdoor settlements, perhaps due to the difficulty in preserving these: - Arcy-sur-Cure, Trecassats, Biache Saint-Vaat (in France). Moldova I (Ukraine) with remains of a 70-meter hut, made from mammoth bones and hides, and more than 12 homes.

Map of sites with Neanderthal fossils. © Maximilian Dörrbecker.

Hunter-gatherers of the Pleistocene

Open-air settlements are scarce because of the difficulty in preserving them: Arcy-sur-Cure, Trecassats, Biache Saint-Vaat (France), Molodova I (Ukraine) with remains of a huge hut made with mammoth bones and hides, and more than 12 homes, or Hundidero and Hotel California (Spain) are some examples.

Recreation of the Hotel California site.

Hunting scene in the Pico river valley. Approximately 50,000 years ago, Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos).

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Resources at the MEH Diorama of the Abric Romaní site

The Abric Romaní is in Capellades (Barcelona) and is about 200 meters long with 27 archaeological layers that range from 40,000 to 70,000 years old. A large number of fossils have been recovered that tell us about the way of life of Neanderthal hunter-gatherers and the use of their spaces. Here we have found wood and stone tools, poles to hold wooden structures to hold hides or smoke, as well as a large number of fireplaces around which the entire space of the shelter is structured as "rooms".

Sapiens camps

Both Neanderthals and modern humans made stone tools, buried their dead, or mastered the use of fire.

We can find remains of Homo sapiens in the Middle East from around 180,000 years ago, in Oceania 65,000 years ago, in Europe 45,000 years ago, and in America over 30,000 years ago (although this last date is debated).

The first fossil evidence of the presence of Homo sapiens outside Africa date to about 180,000 years ago at the Misliya site in Israel.

The first Homo sapiens came to Europe from the East about 45,000 years ago:

- Konstenski (Russia), dated at 45,000 years.

- Grotta del Cavallo (Italy), dated at 45,000 years.

- Kent's Cavern (England), dated at 41,000 years.

- Pestera cu Oase (Carpathians, Romania), dated at 40,000 years.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

The oldest map of Western Europe dates back to around 13,000 years ago and is made on a stone ridge. It was found in the Abauntz Cave (Navarra).

Hunter-gatherers of the Pleistocene

Some open-air campsites have been found that are attributed to Homo sapiens, such as:

- Lommersum (Germany), 32,000 years old.

- Dolni Vestonice II, 28,000 years old (Moravia, Czech Republic).

- Gagarino (Russia), 21,000 years old.

- Vigne Brun (France), where there are stone circles of 5 m in diameter with hearths that would correspond to the remains of 8 huts.

Drawing and reconstruction of the Dolni Vestonice hut, (Moravia, Czech Republic):

- Closed plan.

- Construction with 80 cm deep bowl. A circle 6 m in diameter and surrounded by a mixture of stones, sediment and bones.

- Hearth partially covered by a fired clay superstructure.

- Defined areas, spatial distribution.

- Basic but planned technology.

www.forumancientcoins.com

Resources at the MEH Diorama of the Konstenski camp (Russia)

The diorama shows a reconstruction of the Konstenki camp, some 550 km south of Moscow (Russia), which is approximately 22,000 years old. In this case the huts would be made of wood and mammoth bones covered with hides, similar to teepees but up to 35 m in length. Inside there are several hearths and excavated holes (rest areas, pantries, hiding places), stone figurines (Venus, possible sculptures of specific people in the group) and bone points. They prepared berries, wild grains, and edible roots. They collected molluscs and harpooned in shallow waters. They hunted animals such as mammoths, rhinos, hares, horses, reindeer, bears, wolves, etc.

Abauntz Map.

Museum of Navarra.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Archaeological site: Concentration of remains from the past featuring signs of human activity (bones, tools, structures... etc.).

Diorama:

Installation that reconstructs a scene based on elements such as human figures, buildings, nature, etc. as a model.

Hearth:

Structure made to house a fire or campfire. Its distribution throughout the camp organised and prioritised the space so that different activities could be carried out around it. (knapping area, food processing area, rest area, etc.)

Hunter-gatherer:

Society that bases its survival on obtaining food from the natural environment, without actually depleting it. Hunting, fishing and scavenging are combined to obtain meat and plant foods are gathered.

Hunter-gatherers of the Pleistocene

Glossary

Levantine Corridor:

Geologically, it is a strip of territory limited to the south by desert areas (Sinai and Negev) belonging to the great desert strip of the Sahara, to the north by the Taurus Mountains in the Anatolian peninsula, to the west by the Mediterranean Sea and to the east by the deserts where countries such as Syria and Jordan are located.

Climatically, this territory has mild temperatures, scarce rainfall in the south, which increases towards the north.

Lithic reduction:

Working and intentional manipulation of stone, by means of percussion (direct or indirect) or pressure, in order to manufacture a tool.

Nomadic:

Person who moves from one place to another without a fixed home.

Paleolithic:

Etymologically ancient stone, first period of the Stone Age, that of knapped stone. It ranges from 3.3 million years ago to 10,000 years ago. It is divided chronologically into three periods: lower, middle and upper. It is characterised by making tools in stone, bone, antler and wood.

Pleistocene:

Oldest period of the Quaternary. It spanned between about 2.5 million years ago and about 11,780 years ago. It is divided into three Ages: early, middle and late. It is characterised by the alternation of glacial and interglacial periods. The Pleistocene corresponds to most of the cultural phase that we know as Paleolithic.

Post hole:

Negative evidence left by a stick or a wooden post driven into the surface of the earth, which rots with the passage of time. This space is a different colour to the nearby terrain.

Predatory economy:

Economic mode that is based on obtaining all the necessary resources for life from the environment from hunting, fishing and gathering fruits, molluscs and vegetables. This model characterised humans before the appearance of agriculture and livestock farming.

Rock shelter:

Shallow natural cave, it differs in this way from caverns. It is located on rocky walls, often at the bottom.

Seasonality:

Dependence on which season of the year it is.

Educational mini-guides

Early burials

Manzanal, S., Puente, O., Alonso, R. 2020. "Burials." In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 194-205

Reproduction of the Neanderthal burial of Shanidar (Iraq). © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Pre-Neanderthals carrying a deceased person.

© Illustration by Mauricio Antón.

burials

Burials

Burials denote the beginning of a symbolic behaviour that leads to the con cepts of death and the idea of transcendence. These concerns were able to consolidate groups in the same way that present-day religions do.

It is very difficult to identify any kind of evidence of symbolic behaviour in the oldest hominins. So, when did the idea of burying and not leaving dead mem bers of the group on the ground so they would not be eaten by scavengers come about?

According to scientists, there may be several reasons, or all at once, why our ancestors decided to bury each other:

- Development of a symbolic mind: idea of death and transcendence.

- Expression of emotional intelligence: respect for the dead.

- Conditioned hiding reflex to prevent the bad smell of decomposing bodies.

- Elimination of the danger of attacks on the group from scavengers who can smell the corpses.

Researchers are studying present-day primates, such as the common chim panzee (Pan troglodytes) and the bonobo (Pan paniscus), to look for indica tors and referents of behaviours similar to those of the rituals of human beings. Thanks to these studies, conscious behaviours towards death have been ob served, such as:

- Grooming the body of the dead peer.

- Treating it as if it were alive.

- Aggression towards the corpse.

- Farewell to the deceased and consoling its mother.

Elevation of the Sima de los Huesos. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

burials

Resources at the MEH Sima de los Huesos

In this site in the Sierra de Atapuerca an intentional accumulation of the following has been documented:

- A minimum of 29 individuals from the same species.

- More than 7,500 human remains.

- Different ages and both sexes.

- Species: Pre-Neanderthals.

- Dating: about 430,000 years old.

Due to this intention and its possible symbolic meaning, based on these findings, the Atapuerca Research Team (EIA) has hypothesised that it could be the first intentional accumulation of corpses in the history of humanity.

This pit could well be called Sima de los Osos (‘Bear Pit’), since the remains of about 200 bears have been found, from the species Ursus deningeri, an ancestor of the cave bear that fell into the Sima accidentally.

Did you know…?

In the Sima de los Huesos, within the Cue va Mayor complex of the Sierra de Atapuer ca mountain range, in the 1998 campaign a perfectly preserved red quartzite handaxe was found, called: Excalibur, about 430,000 years old.

No traces of use have been found from stud ying its edges. Therefore we cannot know

whether or not this handaxe was used. This opens up the possibility that perhaps this red quartzite was knapped to be thrown in with the dead. If this is true, this would be the first offering made in the history of hu manity.

Excalibur.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Most burials that we know of belong to two recent species: - Homo neanderthalensis.

- Homo sapiens.

From the burials that have been found in the archaeological sites of Eurasia and the Near East, it is possible to know their behaviour in the face of death and possible rites. We can also find out what their physical appearance might have been like, what illnesses and injuries they suffered, what their lifestyle was like, what their social position was like, etc.

Many of the burials of both species that we know of are located in caves and rock shelters¸ since they were the places they inhabited or frequented. They were not usually very far from the entrances, where there was more light and where daily life took place. There are far fewer outdoor graves. An example can be found in the Lake Mungo site, in southern Australia, attributed to Homo sapiens dated to 45,000 years ago.

Did you know…?

Life expectancy in prehistory was low, around 35 years, compared to 80 today. However, we know that in more recent times such as the Middle Ages, it was barely over 30 years.

Early burials

The buried remains, of both sexes, usually correspond to: - Children.

- Teenagers.

- Elderly adults.

- Individuals with mutilations as a result of hunting accidents.

- Individuals with some type of reduced mobility or disability.

Some of the most repeated funeral practices are:

- Burial: individual or group; on the floor of caves or houses, in natural niches, dolmens, in graves or in vessels.

- Abandonment: exposing the corpses to the action of the sun, nat ural phenomena and scavengers, such as some Native American tribes.

- Incineration: burning the deceased. Very widespread in Europe since the Bronze Age.

- Mummification: purposeful process of preserving the corpse, such as in ancient Egypt.

Neanderthal burial

Did you know…?

In 1920 in the Neanderthal site of La Ferrasie (France), dated between 59,000 and 45,000 years old, the skeleton of a sev en-month-old foetus was found placed in a grave that had been dug.

There are plenty of graves from the Middle Paleolithic, by Homo neandertha lensis, which shows that burial was an every day event from that moment on.

This behaviour would be further proof of Neanderthals’ symbolic and con scious mind. Symbols related to death are undoubtedly the most complex a human brain can make.

Many of the Homo neanderthalensis remains excavated in caves, as usual living spaces, have traditionally been considered as part of burial practices. Some of these sites are:

- El Sidrón, Pinilla del Valle and Zafarraya in Spain.

Chapelle-aux-Saints, La Ferrassie. Le Moustier, La Quina and Saint Césaire in France.

- Spy d'Orneau in Belgium.

- Krapina in Croatia.

- Amud, Tabun, Kebara, Skhul and Qafzeh in Israel.

- Shanidar in Iraq.

- Dederiyeh in Syria.

- Teshik-Tash in Uzbekistan.

- Kiik-Koba and Zaskalnaya in Ukraine.

Did you know…?

In Pinilla del Valle (in Madrid), four teeth of a young Neanderthal have been found, with indications of intentional burial and it is known as the “Niña de Lozoya” (‘Lozoya Girl’).

Early burials

The most significant fact about Neander thal burials is that they are basically only located in caves and are carried out in graves, either:

a. Individual, in most cases, as in Kebara (Israel), dated at 60,000 years, where the upper part of a Neanderthal skeleton was found in 1983, a man between 25 and 30 years of age and a height of 1'70 m. Subsequently, his skull was removed, of which only his jaw and one maxillary tooth remain. For some researchers this fact shows this species’ sensitivity and special treatment towards their dead, while for others, it may be due to the actions of a scavenger animal.

b. Collective, but probably buried at differ ent moments in history:

La Chapelle-aux-Saints (France), with 10 bodies.

La Ferrasie (France), with 8 burials (two adults, a 10-year-old child, two children between 2 and 3 years old, and three foetuses). - Qafzeh (Israel), with 20 individuals.

Special mention should be made of the so-called "Elder" from La Chapelleaux-Saints (France), 50,000 years old, whose remains produced a negative stereotypie of Neanderthals. Due to a misinterpretation by Marcellin Boule, he was considered a savage who shuffled and did not even walk upright.

However, years later, anthropologists observed that he suffered from severe arthritis and other ailments that made it difficult for him to walk and eat, as he lost many teeth and others were very worn, requiring the help and care of his group.

Map of sites with Neanderthal fossils. © Maximilian Dörrbecker.

Kebara burial, Israel. © Prehistorialdia.

The Elder of La Chapelle-aux-Saints, France.

© Reconstruction of the Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Early burials

The position of the individuals is difficult to determine, but they usually appear in different poses, evidence of a premeditated behaviour: lying on the back or side, with the arms bent, crossed over the chest or placed alongside the body.

It is hard to state the existence and intentionality of funeral rituals and trib utes, that is, offerings, since certain the remains found have sparked doubts. But there are some examples:

- Goat skulls in a circular arrangement associated with a child individual in Teshik-Tash, Uzbekistan.

- Handaxes in relation to a child from the La Ferrasie site (France).

- Triangular flint tool on the chest of a child, at heart level, in Dederiyeh (Syria).

- Dusted ochre in Le Moustier (France).

- Absence of the skull in Kebara (Israel).

- Flowers at the Shanidar IV site (Iraq), which for some were intentionally placed on the body.

- Cannibalism, due to the presence of cut marks, although it could be related to nutritional purposes, without ruling out a symbolic nature: El Sidrón (Spain), Moula-Gercy (France) and Krapina (Croatia).

you know…?

Perhaps one of the most spectacular Ne anderthal burials is the Teshik-Tash Cave in Uzbekistan, discovered in 1980, and dating back some 70,000 years. It is the skeleton of a boy between 8 and 11 years old, which they estimate could be buried on a bed prepared with horse bones. The head rested on a block of limestone, and around the body five pairs of horns of ibex or wild goat were driven into the ground.

Reproduction of a Neanderthal burial.

© CAREX (Atapuerca Experimental Archaeology Center). Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Child grave number 1, Dederiyeh (Syria).

T. Akazawa and S. Muhesen.

Resources at the MEH Homo neanderthalensis

The reproduction of Homo neanderthalensis at the Museum of Human Evolution, by Elisabeth Daynes, was based on the skull of the old man from La Chapelle-aux-Saints.

Reconstruction and image of the Teshik-Tash burial.

© nutcrackerman.com

Early burials

Resources at the MEH

The scene presented in the diorama of the Museum of Human Evolution is inspired by what must have been the Shanidar IV burial, in Iraq.

One day 60,000 years ago, a 40-45 year-old man was buried in a cave elevat ed about 25 meters, in a foetal position on a bed of native plants. Pollen studies (Palynology) have identified that the sediment that surrounded the dead con tained the remains of different species of flowers (hyacinths, mallow, cornflow er or aquilegia). For some researchers this means that the flowers could have been laid intentionally, however other archaeologists argue the hypothesis that such a floral offering does not exist and the flowers could have been brought there by rodents.

This elderly Neanderthal suffered severe injuries during his lifetime. He had to depend on care and solidarity from the group for his survival. The study of his remains concludes that he did not die from his injuries, but lived with serious consequences:

- The left part of his face was crushed following a strong blow.

- Due to this trauma, he might have been left one-eyed and had a deformed face.

It could also have affected his brain, which would cause paralysis of his leg.

- His right arm suffered a double fracture, one of which resulted in amputation.

Did you know…?

The historical novel “The Clan of the Cave Bear", by the writer Jean M. Anuel and published in 1980, has a scientific basis. Some of the characters in this novel are based on real fossil finds of Neanderthal individuals found in north ern Iraq in Shanidar Cave, excavated in the mid-20th century. It was also the book that started the saga of “Her Earth’s Children"

The novel "The Clan of the Cave Bear" was made into a film in 1986, directed by Michael Chapman and starring actress Daryl Hannah.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

While to us the colour black represents mourning, in other societies it is the colour white. The widows of the Huli tribe of PapuaNew Guinea cover themselves with white clay and necklaces made from bamboo beads, staying that way for the rest of their lives.

Sapiens burials

We, Homo sapiens, are a species aware of our own death and what it implies: our own existence and that of others, as well as the rest of living beings and the universe, in general.

Although the meaning that the first Homo sapiens gave to their burials, and the symbolism that accompanied them escapes us, it can be said with some certainty and with the archaeological remains found, that they treated their dead in a unique way and with intention.

The earliest known burials of Homo sapiens are about 100,000 years old and are in Skhul and Qafzeh (Israel):

In Skhul, a 35-year-old man was found with a boar's jaw as an offering. In Qafzeh a 12-14 year-old boy was found with offerings of deer antlers and red ochre, as well as a woman with a small child at her feet.

We know about funerary customs from the over one hundred burials of Homo sapiens that have been found both in caves and rock shelters and outside, where the items they are buried with varies and ochre is used abundantly.

The placement of the bodies in excavated pits indicates two models of inhuma tion: individual and collective. Some examples:

a) Individual: Arene Candide, in Italy and La Madeleine, in France.

b) Collective:

- Double: Sungir 2 in Russia and Abri Pataud in France.

- Group: Cro-magnon in France, with five individuals of different ages (elder ly, adults and children); Grimaldi in Italy, a man and two teenagers sharing, in addition to a grave, the personal items; Predmosti and Dolní Vestonice in the Czech Republic, 26,000 years old.

Qafzeh burial (Israel), woman with child at her feet. © Pascar Goetgheluck.

© Pedro Saura.

Early burials

Did you know…?

One of the burials that has raised the most speculation about its meaning is the triple burial of Dolní Vestonice (Czech Republic). Two men and a woman, between 17 and 23 years old, were buried, all with signs of violent death and with their skulls and the female’s pubis covered in lots of ochre. It could have been a ritual related to marital infidelity.

Dolní Vestonice burial (Czech Republic).

Libor Balák.

In Homo sapiens burials, the presence of rich and abundant personal items and offerings of varied materials, is widespread, either as a symbolic act or as the individual’s belongings:

- Deer antlers, possibly fallow deer, in relation to a child in Qafzeh (Israel), about 50,000 years old.

- Wild boar jaw on an adult at the Skhul V site (Israel), one of the oldest at 100,000 years.

- Shells of gastropods and deer canines in La Madeleine (France), dated be tween 20,000 to 12,000 years.

- Animal bones on bodies in Kostenki 2 (Russia), approximately 18,000 years old.

Red ochre sprinkled over three bodies at the Dolní Vestonice burial site (Czech Republic). In Australia, Mungo III burial, 45,000 years old.

- Ivory and bone beads, in caps and clothing, in Dolní Vestonice (Czech Repub lic) and in Sunghir (Russia).

In Sunghir (Russia) an adult was buried some 28,000 years ago wearing a dress decorated with thousands of ivory beads: 3,500 ivory beads sewn on the clothing, as well as 500 beads on the head and 25 fox teeth on the cap. These decorative elements might indicate the rich heritage of the deceased and a high social position.

Did you know…?

A sculpture of a venus made of fired clay dating back to about 27,000 years has been found at the Dolní Vestonice site (Czech Republic).

The same rich costumes appears in another double burial of two children of about 8 and 13 years (the 13-year-old boy, on the left, and the 8-year-old girl, on the right), of a simi lar chronology. On one of the spears there is a carved and perforated ivory disk that could have been decorated with feathers and set on a spear.

Venus of Dolní Vestonice.

© Moravske Zemske Museum, Brno (Czech Republic).

Recreation of the Sunghir burial (Russia).

© Libor Balák.

Recreation of the Sunghir double burial (Russia).

© Libor Balák.

Did you know…?

In Mungo I (Australia) there is a burial of a partially burned woman, dated at about 25,000 years. This date makes the find the oldest example of cremation ever found in the world.

Early burials

Resources at the MEH

The MEH houses a diorama representing the burial of Mungo III, in New South Wales, Australia, about 45,000 years old.

45,000 years ago, on the shores of today's dried up Australian lake, a 50-yearold man was buried, with his hands crossed over his genitals, his knees slight ly bent and his body covered in red ochre. This funeral practice is observed among the current aborigines that populate that territory.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Glossary

Archaeological site: Concentration of remains from the past featuring signs of human activity (bones, tools, structures, etc.).

Bronze Age: Prehistoric period between the Chalcolithic and the Iron Age (3,800-2,900 years before present day). It is distinguished by the introduction of alloys such as bronze, which is a mixture of tin (Sn) and copper.

Cave bear: Cave bear (Ursus spelaeus). It is an extinct species of carnivorous mammal of the Ursid family. It lived in the late Pleistocene in much of Europe.

Chalcolithic: Prehistoric period between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age (around 4,800-3,800 years before the present). It is also called the Copper Age. This period begins the so-called Metal Age.

Diorama: Installation that reconstructs a scene as a model based on human figures, constructions or elements of nature, and where there is a marked focal point.

Funeral items: Objects (tools, ornaments, etc.) that accompanied the deceased in their burial.

Gastropod: Class of terrestrial or aquatic molluscs with a fleshy foot that they use to crawl, with a cylindrical head with the mouth at its anterior end and one or two pairs of tentacles on the dorsal part, and the body commonly protected by a onepiece shell that almost always coils in a spiral, like limpets and snails.

Handaxe: Tool knapped on both sides to achieve a bilaterally symmetrical tool, with two cutting edges that meet at one point.

Hominin: Hominids characterised by upright posture and bipedal locomotion.

Incineration: Reducing something to ashes by fire.

Inhumation: Burial of a corpse.

Megalithic: Prehistoric monument built with large uncut stones.

Middle Palaeolithic: Paleolithic period characterised by the predominance of the Mousterian culture. Period that spans from 130,000 to 35,000 years ago

Mummification: Process by which a corpse is transformed into a mummy.

Neolithic: Period characterised by the development of the productive economy (introduction of arable and livestock farming), sedentary lifestyle and the appearance of the first stable settlements, the use of polished stone and pottery, and the construction of megalithic monuments. In the Iberian Peninsula their dates range between 7,000 and 4,800 ago.

Nomadic: Person who moves from one place to another without a fixed home.

Ochre: Earthy, crumbly, yellow mineral that is a hydrated iron oxide, often mixed with clay. It serves as iron ore and is used in paint.

Offering: Gift or present that is offered with respect, gratitude or love, especially those that have a religious nature.

Paleolithic: Etymologically ancient stone. It ranges from 2.5 million years ago to 10,000 years ago. It is characterised by making tools in stone, bone and horn.

Rock shelter: Shallow natural cave, it differs in this way from caverns. It is located on rocky walls, often at the bottom.

Early burials

Glossary

Upper paleolithic: The last of the Paleolithic stages that extends between 35,000 and 10,000 years ago and where our own species, Homo sapiens, is the main protagonist.

Venus: Prehistoric female figurines made of stone, ivory, clay or bone.

Reproduction of a mammoth-shaped spear thrower from Montastruc (France). © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Portable art

mini-guides

Manzanal, S., Juez, L., Alonso, R. 2020. “Portable art". In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 206-212

Symbolism: the complexity of the human mind

Symbolic language is perhaps the most defining of human traits. From figurative speech to funeral rites, it is one of our most important cultural acquisitions. Symbolism is proof of the complexity of the human mind and its capacity for abstraction, a product of the structure of the brain.

Prehistoric works of art are difficult to interpret, they could have several functions: aesthetic, mystical, social cohesion, etc. They convey the symbolism ofthe group and are an experience shared by all its members. Art reflects our mental properties and reflects the moment and the specific aims of the group in which they were made. It has a message, although now it can be difficult to decipher it.

Ornaments and portable art

Very old artistic manifestations can be found in the archaeological record in the form of ornaments and portable art.

Within prehistoric art, the nomenclature of movable art and portable art are used interchangeably to broadly refer to any work of art made on a medium of small and manageable dimensions, which can be transported by human beings.

This definition encompasses very diverse pieces: from functional objects such as decorated tools and utensils, to engraved stone plaquettes, Palaeolithic venus, ornaments, harpoons, assegais, decorated spear throwers or painted pebbles. This list would be extended from the Neolithic Age, when decorated vessels, idols, fabrics, mats with geometric or figurative motifs are added, and in the Metal Age, metallic objects, luxury and ritual items, brooches, weapons, etc.

Did you know…?

The oldest evidence of portable art that we know of is a prehistoric elephant vertebra with engraved stripes made by the species Homo heidelbergensis and that could be around 650,000 years old. It was found in Stránská Skála, Brno (Czech Republic). A 400,000-year-old tibia with similar characteristics has also been found in Bilzingsleben, Thüringen (Germany).

Replica of the engraved elephant vertebra from Stránská Skála (Czech Republic).

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Replica of an engraved elephant tibia from Bilzingsleben (Germany).

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

The Venus of Brassempouy or "Lady with the Hood" is one of the oldest representations where a human face is de tailed.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

art

The most popular manifestations of prehistoric art include the sculptures known as "Venus".

Generically, they are female figures with a round shape and that are engraved. They are made of materials such as bone, antler, ivory, stone or pottery (they could also have been made from wood), and come in different sizes, ranging from 4 to 25 centimetres. Some are even painted with red ochre. More than a hundred spec imens have been recovered, from the Pyrenees to the Siberian plains.

The first Venus was discovered in 1893, in Brassempouy (France). They were baptised with the name of Venus as they were related to the prehistoric ideal of beauty, and, although today this interpretation is not widely accepted, the name of Venus persists.

The oldest sculptures identified as Venus would be about 250,000 years old: the Venus of Berekhat Ram (Syria) made by pre-Neanderthals in basalt, and the quartzite Venus of Tan Tan, Guelmin-Es Semara (Morocco).

Replica of the Venus of Berekhat Ram.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Replica of the Tan Tan Venus.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

The best known Venus are those made by Homo sapiens and appeared about 35,000 years ago.

Replicas of Paleolithic Homo sapiens Venus.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Venus of Dolní Vèstonice.

Venus of Hohle Fels.

Venus of Lespugue.

Venus of Willendorf.

Venus of Brassempouy.

If we go into detail, the Venus figures are very varied in their characteristics and features:

There are many figures called steatopygian Venus, in which certain parts of the anatomy are overdeveloped: large breasts, bulging bellies, prominent buttocks and hips. The rest of the body parts are indistinct: the arms are very small, the feet are barely visible, and the face is usually slightly outlined or non-existent.

There are other Venus figures that are stylisations or schemes such as Mal'ta's and Buretj's.

What could be the meaning of these figures?

The high proportion of female figures found in the portable art of the Upper Palaeolithic, is sufficient to indicate the important role of these works in those prehistoric societies.

Today they are interpreted very differently. Some associate them with possi ble charms that would be easy to grasp or hang because of their small size. Normally, they have appeared linked to places of habitation, both in cave and in outdoor settlements, and not in burial places. In Gagarino (Russia), seven Venus figures appeared inside a oval hut more than five meters long and at sites like Mal'ta (Lake Baikal), the figurines only appeared on the left side of the hut. If these Venuses were in the sight of anyone, it could be de duced that they were not hidden or secret amulets (and this could explain their geographical spread). There are also theories that link them to the great mother goddess, the goddess of fertility, as a sexual object or with the existing canon of beauty at the time, but this is just speculation that cannot be proven. What is clear is that they do not appear to be objects with a practical use.

Venus of Buretj and Mal'ta (Siberia).

Reproduction of a mammoth molar. Tatá Komerom, Hungary.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Neanderthal art

There is not much evidence for Neanderthal portable art. A polished mammoth molar more than 100,000 years old has been found at Tatá Komerom, Eszter gom (Hungary). Bones with engraved parallel lines and zigzag motifs have also been recovered, and even perforated and pigmented mollusc shells, which at 50,000 years old, could be considered necklace beads. A little later, 42,000 years old, we found a necklace of fox bones and teeth in the Renne cave, Arcysur-Cure (France).

Among the portable art objects, the Mask of La Roche-Cotard could be high lighted, since it was clearly intended to recreate a human face. It is a stone object triangular in shape and with clear evidence of having been altered. It represents a face and an animal bone has been inserted to simulate eyes.

Preparations of yellow, red and black pigments from iron ore such as hematite, goethite, lepidocrocite or pyrite have also been recovered from sites with Ne anderthal settlements. These findings indicate that Neanderthals knew about, handled, and used pigments. Why not use them to paint your face and body?

Resources at the MEH

Reproduction of marine mollusc (Pecten maximun). Cueva Antón, Spain.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Neanderthal bust. Fabio Fogliazza The taste for adornment is reflected in the bust of a Neanderthal made by the paleoartist Fabio Fogliazza. Based on the discoveries made at the Fumane site, in northern Italy, with chronologies of more than 40,000 years. Observing this recreation we can see how the hair is carefully cut and is also adorned with feathers of birds such as the bearded vulture, the pigeon and the Alpine chough, all of them held with strips of deer skin. The face is paint ed with red ochre (red) and manganese oxide (black). Finally, we can see how the neck is surrounded by a fox fur from which eagle claws hang.

Reproduction of a necklace made of fox bones and teeth. Renne cave, France.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Reproduction of carved mask. La Roche-Cotard, France.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Replica of a plaque with zoomorphic decoration. Apollo 11 Cave, Hunsberg (Namibia). 30,000 years.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Sapiens art

The earliest manifestations of portable art and ornaments attributed to Homo sapiens are also very old. These notably include the 100,000-year-old perforat ed marine molluskc (Nassarius gibbosolus) in Skhul (Israel), and a 75,000 yearold fragment of ochre with engraved lines in the Blombos Cave, (South Africa).

Replica of perforated marine mollusc Shkul, Haifa (Israel).

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Replica of ochre with engraved lines. Blombos Cave, Still Bay (South Africa).

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Necklace beads from 40,000 years ago made from ostrich eggshell have been found in the Twilight cave, in the Mau mountain range (Kenya). A 15,000-yearold pendant made of stone was found in the Praileaitz Cave (Deba, Guipúzcoa).

Many objects with animal figures, plaques, pieces of antlers or ivory have been recovered. Some of them are decorated parts of tools such as batons and spear throwers.

Replica of perforated baton made of reindeer antler, La Madeleine (France). 15,000 years.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Replica of the 14,000-year-old La Madeleine Bison, (France).

Replica of Twilight beads

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Replica of the Praileatiz I pendant.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Glossary

Goetite: Iron oxyhydroxide mineral containing up to 5% manganese.

Hematites: Oxidised iron ore, red or brown, which due to its hardness is used to burnish metals.

Lepidocrite: Goethite polymorph, with the same composition and formula and a different crystallisation system.

Ochre: Earthy, crumbly, yellow mineral that is a hydrated iron oxide, often mixed with clay. It serves as iron ore and is used in paint.

Portable art: Work of art made on an object of small and manageable dimensions that can be transported by humans.

Pyrite: Shiny mineral, golden yellow. It is an iron sulphide.

Spear thrower: A tool or prehistoric hunting artifact used to throw short and sharpened darts or spears.

Steatopygian: Adipose tissue deposit on the buttocks and upper thighs.

Venus: Prehistoric female figurines made of stone, ivory or bone.

Zoomorph: Bearing the shape or appearance of an animal.

Educational mini-guides

Speech and music

Replica of the possible flute of Divje Babe. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

López, R., Moral, S., Alonso, R. 2020. “Speech and music." In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 213-223

Speech and music musical language

Speech

According to the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy, communicating means transmitting signals through a code common to the sender and the re ceiver. That is, it is a process in which:

a) The sender wants to transmit a message to a receiver.

b) The message is encoded so that it is understandable.

c) The message is sent through a channel.

d) The receiver receives and decodes the message.

e) The receiver sends response or feedback to the sender.

Therefore, the communication is made up of a sender and a receiver who are predisposed to send and/or receive a message between them. This message can be encoded through speech or not, communication can be verbal or non-verbal. Non-verbal communication refers to a large number of channels, including eye contact, facial expressions, arm and hand movements or posture and body distance could be cited as the most important.

ELEMENTS OF COMUNICATION

MESSAGE

SENDER RECEIVER

MODEL

CODE CHANNEL

Did you know…?

Despite the importance that we usually associate with verbal communication, between 65% and 80% of all our communication with others is carried out through non-verbal channels.

music

Verbal communication

The origin of language is the subject of great controversy. Some words appear to mimic natural sounds, while others may come from expressions of emotion, such as laughing or crying. Certain researchers believe that language is the result of group activities such as work or dance. Another theory holds that language has developed from basic sounds that accompanied gestures.

Around 3,000 languages and dialects are spoken in the world today, grouped into families. As some languages develop, others disappear. Changes in language reflect different classes, genders, professions, or age groups, as well as other social characteristics (e.g., the influence of technol ogy on everyday life).

HOW DO WE SPEAK?

"Speaking" is a complex process that involves the intersection and intercon nections of the brain/central nervous system and the vocal apparatus. To be able to speak, both systems must be functional.

1.

The human brain

The human brain is lateralised, that is, it has specialised functions in each of the two hemispheres. Analytical functions, such as the use of tools and language, are located in the left hemisphere and it could be that there was an evolution ary connection between these two human capacities.

Within the brain, the:

Broca’s area: Interacts with the muscles of the larynx, mouth and tongue; intervenes in the formation of words and sentences.

- Wernicke’s area: Comprehension of language, it is the entrance to ac cess our mental dictionary.

Arched fascicle: This is a bundle of fibres. It is part of the network nec essary to assemble phonemes into morphemes, something essential for expressing a word.

Broca’s area

Wernicke’s area

Arched fascicle

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Did you know…?

Human babies are like other mam mals when it comes to the location of the larynx. But during child de velopment, the larynx descends and language emerges.

Speech and music

2.

The vocal apparatus

The lips, teeth, tongue and palate are decisively involved in speech. Air comes from the rib cage to the outlet formed by the nasal and oral cavities, passes through the larynx first, transformed by the vocal cords into a laryngeal tone (set of frequencies or harmonics duly modulated by the mouths’ movements will give rise to the various sounds of speech).

VOCAL TRACT (Sagittal section)

Vocal chords

Inspiration and phonation

Nasal tract

Orifices Teeth Lips

Language

Palate

Alveoli

Soft palate

Epiglottis

Lungs and trachea

VIBRATION

Vocal chords

Trachea

AIR FLOW

The vocal apparatus consists of: Larynx

The human larynx is the "voice box" (it contains the vocal cords). The role of the "vocal" tract is to take the sounds produced in the larynx by the vocal cords and cause the tongue, palate, and associated muscles to modify these initial frequencies. The larynx and vocal cords did not evolve in order to produce sounds, but to protect the airway to the lungs from foreign bodies, such as food.

The vocal cords are a type of "sphincter" that serves as our first line of defence. Their ability to produce sounds that are later modified in the vocal tract is a secondary role adopted later.

Our larynx differs significantly from that of primates by its position. Adopting an upright posture brought the head forward and lowered the larynx, creat ing a larger cavity called the pharynx, which acts as a sounding board for all

© www.aparatosistema.com

Speech and music

sounds produced by the larynx. An unfortunate consequence of these changes is that the position of the human larynx creates the possibility of choking when eating.

Without a doubt, being able to make more distinct sounds must have been a huge advantage for survival, otherwise it would not have offset the potential downside of this added risk.

Mouth

The human mouth is relatively small, can be opened and closed quickly, and contains a very flexible tongue with which a wide variety of sounds can be formed.

Teeth

Human teeth are straight, not angled forward like those of monkeys, and are roughly the same height. These characteristics are not necessary for eating, but they are very useful in producing sounds like f, z, and d.

Lips

Human lips are connected by a much more complex muscle than that found in other primates, and the flexibility this gives them helps when making sounds like p and b.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Speech and music

When did language emerge?

In order to know the linguistic ability of our ancestors, we must look into the fossil record and in particular:

- Cranial remains (where what is said is decided).

The structures that support the production of sounds (base of the skull and the tongue bone, the hyoid).

The anatomical elements involved in receiving sounds (mainly the bones of the inner ear).

We now also have the contribution of nuclear genetics, which has identified genes linked to oral language, such as the FOXP2 gene found in Neanderthals.

Cranial remains

When studying skulls, the size of the brain is of great importance. It has been observed that there was a great increase in its size about 2.5 million years ago. There were increases again, independent of body size, in both the Neanderthal and the sapiens lineages.

The study of the internal part of the skull, the endocranium, is also of enor mous significance. This is where the skull preserves the memory of the brain that it protected inside it. It can be used to study the degree of development of the two areas of the brain related to speech, Broca's area and Wernicke's area.

Structures that support the production of sounds

As for the structures that support the production of sounds, the base of the skull and the hyoid bone, the fossil record is very scarce.

Until just two decades ago, only one fossil hyoid belonging to a Neanderthal from 60,000 years ago was found at the Israeli site of Kebara. This hyoid is noticeably similar to that of modern humans, and very different from that of chimpanzees. This suggested to its discoverers that Neanderthals could speak, contrary to then-widespread opinion.

A second fossil hyoid was found in Ethiopia. It belonged to a specimen of Aus tralopithecus afarensis, a hominin that inhabited that region 3.3 million years ago. Its morphology is very similar to that of the chimpanzee, so it could be deduced that those first hominins could not speak as we do.

The third hyoid was located in the Asturian site of Cueva del Sidrón. As in the Israeli bone, it belonged to a Neanderthal, in this case about 40,000 years old, and is similar to that of a modern human.

In Atapuerca, in the Sima de los Huesos, two more hyoids have been found, belonging to pre-Neanderthals about 430,000 years old. Their morphology is analogous to that of today’s human and looks nothing like that of primates.

Reconstruction of a pre-Neanderthal brain.

© Emiliano Bruner.

Bones of the middle ear of the pre-Neanderthals of the Sima de los Huesos. © Javier Trueba.

Speech and music

Anatomical elements involved in receiving sounds

As for receiving sounds through the bones of the middle ear, again the fossil record is very scarce. Until the Atapuerca discoveries, there were only three middle ear bones in the global paleontological record: one from a robust australopithecine from about two million years ago and two from Neanderthals from about 60,000 years ago. Thanks to the Sima de los Huesos, it has been possible to have a complete set of middle ear bones of the same species from about 430,000 years ago.

In this way, by means of a computer reconstruction, it has been possible to place the bones of the ear in their exact position within the skull and make a mechanical model. The results have shown that the hearing frequencies of these hominins correspond to broadband hearing, almost identical to that of current populations and clearly higher than that of current chimpanzees.

Non-verbal communication

Did you know…?

Facial information is considered by some experts to be more reliable than words, as words can be used to lie and hide more easily than gestures.

After verbal language, facial expressions make up the most complete communication system for expressing feelings and moods. The alphabet of this language are the eyes and the area around them (the eyelids, the pupils and the eyebrows), the forehead, the nose, the mouth, the cheeks and even every wrinkly and changes in skin colour. The slightest facial gesture can give away our intentions.

An example of non-verbal communication: the eyes

The eyes are the windows through which our brain looks out into the world and, perhaps because of this, that is why these two white marbles filled with jelly, 2.5 cm in diameter and weighing 8 grams, are the most expressive elements of the face. The most striking and attractive element of the eye is the iris, which gives colour and beauty to the face. However, the most important element for communication is what is commonly known as the whites of the eyes and what ophthalmologists call the sclera.

Humans are, by far, the mammals with the largest sclerotic surface, only followed from afar by other primates. This is because primates are strongly visual creatures: the eyes play an essential role in human interrelations as a mechanism for communicating and conveying emotions.

If you look at the eyes in this image, you can easily recognise the one that belongs to a human, since the rest of the eyes barely show their sclera. This is

Speech and music

due to a defence mechanism. The whites of the eyes are a telltale element that allows the enemy to deduce the animal's intention.

Did you know…?

In certain experiments it has been found that a chimpanzee can only distinguish the object on which a human is focusing his attention if his head is pointing the same way as his gaze.

Eyes. © elrincondelacienciaytecnologia.blogspot.com

Throughout evolution, humans have lost this eye protection to the benefit of visual communication and sociability. We display the whites of our eyes without fear of betraying our emotions, which could be of no benefit if we truly lived in a society with selfish and violent individuals.

Thanks to the whites of the eyes, we can clearly follow the direction of another's gaze even if they are not moving their head, and this offers us information and communication opportunities that are inaccessible to any other species. Looking at something sideways, as if we were not looking at it, is a gesture that only humans are capable of making and easily recognising in other individuals.

Animal communication

We commonly associate communication as an exclusive characteristic of human beings. However, the world around us also uses its own codes. Animals also need to communicate with their peers or with other animals. Animals can have very rich non-verbal language. While verbal language separates us, non-verbal language unites us with the rest of the animals.

Just as humans engage in conversations, animals also communicate, whether to reproduce, feed, compete, or avoid being eaten. There are even messages of appeasement, of fraternity or of cooperation that frequently modulate animals’ social life. For example, a mother and her baby not only exchange signals related to food and protection, but also to education.

Although animals use all the senses to communicate, the sense of smell, and to a lesser extent hearing, are the main communication channels. However, most species do not use a single channel to communicate, but instead use different channels simultaneously to ensure that the message is received.

Did you know…?

Many animals have some senses that are much more developed than in humans. For example, many birds have better sight than ours and dogs have a much more developed sense of smell than ours. There are even animals that have senses that we don’t, for example sharks, which detect magnetic fields to orient themselves.

Speech and music

There are some animals that have developed such sophisticated oral communi cation systems (dolphins, whales, bonobos, chimpanzees) that they have been linked to a verbal communication system, to a certain type of language. How ever, the human being is the only one who has developed a complex articulated language.

Musical language

Music conveys feelings, emotions and sensations, just like song and dance. They are forms of communication, since non-verbal language is used between human beings, where the performer expresses feelings and emotions through sounds, movements and gestures.

The human body was probably the first musical instrument, generating sounds through the airways and hitting different parts of the body. It is believed that early Paleolithic music was simply imitating the sounds of nature, whether it was the song of birds or the sound of rain. It is possible that imitating these sounds had some magical meaning, as it happens in many of today's primitive societies.

Few prehistoric musical instruments have been found. The first musical instru ments created were almost certainly percussion instruments, whether they were made of stone, wood or animal skin. However it is very difficult to prove from the marks found on a stone that it was used to make music, and the pres ervation of perishable materials such as wood and skin is even more difficult.

It is also believed that they may have used tiny bones and seeds to produce sound, like a kind of rattle. They even might have used shells and horns as instruments.

However, thanks to constant archaeological work, little by little instruments have appeared. Portable art and rock art has showed us that instruments could have been made, such as the Laussel Venus (France), who holds a horn in one of her hands, which may well have been used as a musical instrument. As we move forward in time, we find increasingly complex elements that leave no doubt about the presence of instruments in prehistoric and protohistoric so cieties.

The archaeological remains that, with some caution, can be identified as musi cal instruments are bullroarers, whistles and flutes.

Bullroarers are oval shaped plates, mainly made of wood or bone, which are tied to a rope at one end. If you spin it at high speed using the string, while rotating it on itself, it makes a very deep sound. Bullroarers made of bone have been found in Upper Palaeolithic sites in the French Dordogne, as well as in Altamira, El Pendo, Cueva de la Paloma...

Whistles made of short bones have also been found, such as the one made from a reindeer phalanx found at the Laugerie-Haute site (Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, Dordogne, France), from more than 18,000 years ago.

Replica of the Laussel venus.

Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Bullroarer.

Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Laugerie-Haute reindeer bone whistle.

© www.unad.edu.co

"Flute" by DIvje Babe, widely discussed today.

© prehistorialdia.blogspot.com

Speech and music

The musical instruments of which the most pieces have been found are flutes. Among these, undoubtedly one of the most famous is the one from the Divje Babe I site, in Slovenia. The estimated chronology (minimum 43,000 years) and the fact it belonged to Neanderthal settlements, make it not only the oldest musical instrument in the world, but also the only one that has not been made by our own species. Did Neanderthals have a creative and artistic ability similar to ours? Controversy is ongoing.

Defenders of its authenticity put forward arguments such as the size and equidistance of the holes (four in its reconstruction), its circular shape and similar diameter, the absence of bone marrow and the fact that some musicologists have managed to play music with it.

For their part, detractors (who are the majority), base their arguments on the similarity of these holes with those made by external agents such as hyenas, whose eating and scavenging strategies have yielded results very similar to those of this specific piece.

In more recent sites, associated with Homo sapiens, flutes decorated with incisions and polychrome have been found that leave no room for doubt about the fact that they were made intentionally. The oldest are the German ones of Geißenklösterle (recently re-dated to more than 40,000 years ago) and Hohle Fels (about 35,000 years old), made from a swan ulna and a vulture radius respectively, and the French flute of Isturiz, made from gannet bone and that could also be 35,000 years old.

Did you know…?

A selection of multi-piece fragments can be heard in a video showing the musical capabilities of the Neanderthal flute from Divje Babe (Slovenia) discovered in 1995.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHy9FOblt7Y

Replicas of the possible Neanderthal flute and Homo sapiens flutes. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

and music

Glossary

Broca’s area

A section of the brain involved in producing speech, processing language, and understanding. It is located in the third frontal gyrus, (inferior frontal gyrus), of the left hemisphere.

Broca, Paul Pierre:

Bordeaux (France), June 28, 1824 - Paris (France), July 9, 1880. He was a French physician, anatomist and anthropologist. His name is associated with the designation of the area of the human brain (Broca's area) that controls language functions.

Cerebrum:

Upper and most voluminous part of the brain, made up of a mass of nervous tissue. It deals with cognitive and emotional functions and the control of vital activities such as movements, sleep, hunger, etc.

Computerised axial tomography (CAT):

Non-destructive technique for the volumetric exploration of solid objects using X-rays.

Hyoid:

Bone located at the base of the tongue and above the larynx.

Magdalenian:

The last great cultural stage of the Upper Paleolithic, characterised by great artistic development and bone tools (18,000-11,000 years).

Solutrean:

Upper Palaeolithic cultural stage, characterised especially by very flat lithic tools with beautiful carving (22,000-18,000 years).

Speech apparatus:

This is a part of the body made up of three groups of organs: the breathing organs, the phonation organs and the articulation organs.

Upper paleolithic:

The last of the Paleolithic stages that extends between 38,000 and 11,000 years ago and where our own species, Homo sapiens, is the main protagonist.

Venus:

Prehistoric female figurines made of stone, clay, ivory or bone.

Wernicke’s area

Part of the brain located in the posterior half of the superior temporal gyrus. It belongs to the association cortex or associative cortex, and its fundamental role lies in the auditory decoding of the linguistic function (it is related to understanding language).

Wernicke, Karl: Tarnowitz: (Prussia, now Poland), May 15, 1848 - Erfurt (Germany), June 15, 1905. German neurologist and psychiatrist known for his studies on aphasia or disturbances of expression and/or understanding caused by neuronal disorders. He established the relationship between the type of deficiency and the responsible region of the brain, known as Wernicke’s area.

Educational mini-guides

Rock art

De la Muñoza, R., Moral, S., Alonso, R. 2020. “Rock art". In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 224-231

Reproduction of the Gran Panel of the Galería del Sílex. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Châtelperronian

The creative spirit of Homo sapiens: rock art

Rock art is a cultural manifestation common to all of humanity, and it can be found practically all over the Earth.

These are images or representations that have been engraved or painted on rocky surfaces. They reflect humans’ intellectual ability to abstract and represent their reality. It was and still is a means of communication.

Chronology and style evolution

Traditionally, the oldest examples of rock art were dated to around 41,000 years ago and were exclusively related to our species. However, recent works have documented pictures dating back 60,000 years, generating an interesting debate about the authorship of these paintings. On the one hand, those behind this work, based on its dating, argues that the Neanderthals did these paintings. On the other hand, a large part of the scientific community questions its chronological results and defends that most of the rock art is more modern, coinciding with the arrival of Homo sapiens on the European continent. There are examples dated to around 41,000 years old.

Ancient phase (41,000-19,000 BP)

It is characterised by: Animals in profile and bulky body. Few details and few lines, with a very marked cervico-dorsal line. Non-figurative elements such as hands, spears and various signs.

Archaic phase (19,000-15,500 BP)

Characteristics similar to the previous phase, although anatomical details that suggest fur and volume appear.

Late classical phase (15,500-11.00 BP)

Greater wealth of expression, combining techniques in the same figure. Coats and body masses, great naturalism and dynamic character are shown.

Appearance of complex scenes.

Phases of rock art.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

art

Location

There is evidence of rock art all over the planet, the oldest being those in south ern Europe. The best known are in the Cantabrian region (Altamira, Tito Bustillo, El Castillo, Covalanas, etc.), the painted caves of the Vézère Valley (Lascaux, Rouffignac, etc.) and the prehistoric rock art of Vale do Côa-Siega Verde, in Vila Nova de Foz Côa and Salamanca.

Rock art location map.

Tito Bustillo

Location: Spain Discovery: 1968 Dating: 30,000-10,000 BP

Altamira

Location: Spain Discovery: 1868

Dating: 36,000-14,000 BP

Lascaux

Location: France Discovery: 1940 Dating: 19,000-17,000 BP

Chauvet

Location: France Discovery: 1995 Dating: 37,000-26,000 BPVale do Côa Location: Portugal Discovery: 1991 Dating: 22,000-10,000 BP

Did you know…?

To this day, the oldest evidence of rock art is located in the cave of El Castillo (Cantabria). A red disk has been dated to 40,800 years old. This date, shortly after the arrival of the first Homo sapiens in Europe, raises three possibilities: Rock art was already part of Homo sapiens' cultural baggage upon arrival. Rock art was developed by these groups shortly after reaching Europe. The human groups that were already in Europe before, the Neanderthals, are the ones who made the early art.

Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Relief.

What artistic techniques have been used in rock art?

Representation of engravings and paintings on the rock. © www.rupestreweb.info

Experimental archaeology and the study of rock art have made it possible to establish the existence of two types of artistic techniques: engraving and painting.

Engraving:

This consists of drawing based on fine incisions or cuts, made with sharp tools (burins). There are two types of engraving: direct and indirect If the incisions are so deep that the figure becomes a sculpture that protrudes from the support, it is known by the name of relief.

Indirect engraving.

Direct engraving with burin.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Direct engraving.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Brush painting.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Painting:

This can be done using the fingers (finger painting); with an airbrush projecting the painting on the rock (blown); with pencils (burnt branches with which the wall was smudged); with brushes (vegetable or animal fibres) or natural sponges impregnated with pigment (stamping). Lumps and cracks in the walls were used to give the drawings a sense of volume.

The pigments used can be: mineral (ochre for red, limonite for yellow, manganese for grey, etc.) or organic (carbon for black) mixed with an organic binder (resin or fat).

Preparing pigment.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Finger painting.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Blown painting.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Types of representations in rock art

Animals: aurochs, bison, horses, mammoths, goats, rhinos, etc.

Signs: hands, sexual organs and other more abstract ones called ideomorphs. Male figure: with grotesque features with a blurred face and highly detailed sexual organs. Sometimes animal attributes are added to them. They might represent magical ancestors of a hybrid nature or magicians in disguise and masks for ceremonies.

Female figure: faces are often blurred. Perhaps they were representations of mother nature, goddesses of fertility or ideals of beauty of that time.

The great scene.

(Chauvet, France).

© www.archeologie. culture.fr

Camerín de las vulvas. (Tito Bustillo, España)

www.centrotitobustillo.com

Fumane man. (Fumane cave, Italy) © www.grottadifumane.eu/en/

Roca de los Moros. (Las Garrigas, Spain) © www.lesgarrigues.cat

art

Resources at the MEH

On the first floor of the museum there is an area where four panels explain, by means of audiovisual resources, the different artistic techniques and the evolution of rock art in dif ferent parts of the planet, from the Aurigna cian to the present day.

Area 16 of the MEH. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Interpretive theories in the field of rock art

Today there are several explanatory models to interpret the characteristics and nature of rock art from different angles. It is evident that Paleolithic art is the reflection of a codified language and it is still interpreted in different ways to day, determined by the dominant currents of each moment.

Aboriginal rock art (Kakadu National Park, Australia).

www.parksaustralia.gov.au

Art for art's sake (late 19th century): this interpretation was proposed by Édouard Lartet, Henry Christy and Édouard Piette. These researchers argued that prehistoric humans were not motivated by religious feelings in any of their actions, since, as "primitives", they could not have such elaborate thoughts. In this way, Paleolithic art was considered as a merely decorative element that would be done in moments of leisure.

Totemism (1900-1950): in the first half of the 20th century, interpretations based on totemism (a religious art) and on sympathetic magic (or magic to bring good hunts) prevailed. Anthropologists such as Edward Burnett Tylor or James George Frazer compare the customs of current primitive peoples such as the Bushmen, Pygmies or Australian hunters, with Paleolithic rock works.

Magical art (1900-1950): theory formulated by Salomon Reinach in 1902, but popularised by the prestigious historian Henri Breuil in 1952.

Sympathetic magic consists of representing on the wall the action that one wishes to carry out later, that is to say, through artistic representation, the hu man being gained an influence on that which he had represented.

The images would be used to ask the spirits to ensure successful hunting or for the animals to procreate. This theory would justify that the animals represent ed were pregnant females and the existence of animals injured by spears. Like wise, the representation of dangerous "inedible" animals was a way to control them, and keep them away from the prey that humans yearned for.

The Venus figures would be goddesses of fertility that would bring abundance and the male figures would be the sorcerers in full ceremony.

The hands would be the signature of those participating in the ceremonies and of those who happened to belong to the category of adult hunters.

de la Vieja (Albacete, Spain).

Structuralism (1950-1960): in the 1950s and 1960s André Leroi-Gourhan and Annette Laming-Emperaire agree on the rejection of ethnographic parallels as the basis for any theoretical elaboration. Both authors’ interpretations focus on the orderly and structured character of the images, arguing a structuralist vision of the decorated caves, where the distribution of the figures would not be merely accidental, but rather following a pre-defined plan. In this way, the figures on the wall reflected the system and organisation of the society that created them.

Shamanism (late twentieth century): this current reflects the interpretations of the beginning of the century linked to magical-religious approaches. Da vid Lewis Williams and Jean Clottes advocate a theory based on shamanism, understanding that the rock figures would be a graphic expression of the sha mans' visions. These sorcerers would be the intermediaries between the super natural world and the material world, who through hallucinogenic plants would enter a trance and contact the spirits of animals and ancestors.

The Sierra de Atapuerca and rock art

The karst complex of Cueva Mayor-Cueva del Silo in the Sierra de Atapuerca montain range has an important set of prehistoric rock art, both painted and engraved. Among all the caves, the drawings found in what is known as Galería del Sílex stand out.

A large number of iconographic motifs (almost 400) were documented on the gallery walls, consisting of black and red paintings, and engravings dis tributed over 53 panels. The theme is linear and geometric shapes associated with abstract aesthetics and, to a lesser extent, schematic human and animal representations.

Going through the karst system of Atapuerca there are other caves and galler ies with wall art. Places such as Cueva del Silo, Galería de las Estatuas or Salón del Coro are examples of this.

The drawings that we can find on their walls are, in a way, similar to those pre viously mentioned in the Galería del Sílex, since most of the motifs found are linear and geometric forms with an abstract appearance.

Galería de las Estatuas, Atapuerca, Burgos.

Salón del Coro, Atapuerca, Burgos.

Cueva del Silo, Atapuerca, Burgos.

Marcos García Díez.

Marcos García Díez.

Marcos García Díez.

Glossary

Aurignacian:

(38,000-30,000 years) First cultural stage of the Upper Palaeolithic, which is characterised by the appearance of tools made of bone and by the first rock art paintings.

Blown painting:

Painting technique that consists of projecting paint, using an airbrush, on rock walls.

BP:

Before Present, it is used in archaeology or geology to date sites from the reference year 1950, a date arbitrarily established during the first carbon-14 dating tests carried out by the American Willard Franck Libby, for which he received the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1960.

Burin:

Lithic instrument achieved by means of sagittal retouching, whose flat and resistant edge allows us to work with stone, bone or wood.

Finger painting.

Painting technique that consists of making drawings using the fingers and hands, impregnated with pigment.

Gravettian:

(30,000-22,000 years) Cultural stage of the Upper Paleolithic, in which the female or Venus statuettes are especially significant.

Ideomorph:

A very frequent type of representation in prehistoric art, consisting of abstract signs with an unknown meaning.

Limonite:

Ferric hydrate, yellow in colour, used as a pigment in rock art.

Magdalenian:

(18,000-11,000 years) Last cultural stage of the Upper Paleolithic, characterised by great artistic development and bone tools.

Ochre:

Red iron oxide, quite clayey, abundant in nature, and usually used in painting.

Rock art:

Human activity on the rock walls of caves, huts, rock shelters and even ravines.

Solutrean: (22,000-18,000 years) Cultural stage of the Upper Paleolithic, characterised especially by very flat lithic tools with beautiful carving.

Neolithic

Educational mini-guides

Reconstruction of the Neolithic occupation of El Mirador site. © Illustration: Dbolit. Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Pérez, M. A., Moral, S., Alonso, R. 2020. "Neolithic". In R. Alonso and A. Sarmiento (coords.), MEH educational mini-guides. Fundación Siglo para el Turismo y las Artes de Castilla y León, Regional Government of Castile and Leon. Valladolid: 232-238

Neolithic

The retreat of the ice from the last ice age marked the end of a long glacial period, beginning a new period that gave rise to the current landscape of al most the entire world. This period is known as the Holocene and spans from approximately 11,780 years ago to the present.

ago.

CHRONOLOGY OF PREHISTORY

PLEISTOCENE

Until then, our species organised itself into groups of hunter-gatherers, but approximately 10,000 years ago there were important changes that marked the origin of producer societies. This new period is known as the Neolithic, and is the result of a long process in which human beings accumulated knowledge from observing their environment and experimenting.

They learned to take advantage of and control the resources at their disposal, to gradually manage them, thus creating agriculture and livestock farming.

The productive economy required living near pastures and ploughed land, con trolling harvesting rates, regulating births and labour, and obtaining surplus es to ensure sustenance in times of shortage. Over time, the management of these surpluses became the basis of social organisation, prompting the emer gence of individuals who controlled and distributed the food, giving way to inequalities and social and territorial hierarchisation. The struggle for control of the land, livestock and food accumulated led to a new way of life that would continue to this day.

Did you know…?

In the 1940s Gordon Childe coined the expression 'neolithic revolution' to refer to this break and/or change from the previous process.

Neolithic tools and supplies. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Map of the "nuclear zones" and the zones with the highest agricultural and livestock production today.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Paleolithic vs. Neolithic

Paleolithic

Old stone

Predatory economy

Neolithic

New stone

Productive economy

Sedentary Hunting Livestock farming

Nomads

Gathering Agriculture

Knapped stone

Tribes

Animal skins

Polished stone

Villages

Fabrics

Descriptive art Schematic art

The neolithisation process was not uniform, neither culturally nor chronolog ically. There are geographical areas where certain changes preceded others, and vice versa. There were zones of independent invention, called “nuclear zones”, while the Neolithic reached other places by diffusion or migration of peoples.

Main consequences

Farming:

The oldest evidence that documents agricultural practices have been found in archaeological sites of the Near East, with an approximate chronology of 12,000 years old. In this setting, around the Tigris and the Euphrates, the con ditions were in place for starting to work the land. Almost certainly the small variety of existing plants invited these human groups to specialise, manipulate and control them, adapting them to the group's needs and creating surpluses.

The first crops were grains, with wheat, barley and rye being essential for the economy during the Neolithic in Europe. But this was not the only area where plants were domesticated through an autonomous process. Similar agricultural advances took place in similar environments far away: millet in North Africa; rice in India and China; and corn in America. Food production did not com pletely replace gathering other foods.

Did you know…?

The dog was one of the first animals to be domesticated. Its origin can be found in the domestication of wolf cubs and could be related to the use of these animals in the hunting tasks carried out by our ancestors.

Livestock farming:

Livestock farming has its origin in the selective hunting of wild animals and its use was key, not only in terms of food (meat, milk, eggs...), but also in obtaining help in daily tasks, such as draught animals to work the fields, pets to control herds or help with hunting, etc. All these animals become just another posses sion, requiring new spaces for shelter. These spaces are created both inside caves (called cave-folds) and with fences or stakes in the open, always close to the village.

Domestication of animals

Species Years Period

Ancestor

Late Upper Paleolithic Wolf Goat 10,000 Early Mesolithic Wild goat Sheep 9,000 Early Neolithic Mouflon Bull 8,000 Early Neolithic Auroch Horse 6,000 Mid Neolithic Przewalski Pig 5,000

Dog 13,000

Late Neolithic Boar Cat 4,500 Late Neolithic African cat

Hen 4,000 Early Chalcolithic Red junglefowl Rabbit 3,000 Early Bronze Age African-Iberian

Polished stone:

Etymologically, the word Neolithic derives from the Greek and means “new stone”, from the previous period called Paleolithic or “ancient stone”. This new stone refers to polished stone. From this moment on, the tools are not only knapped, but also polished, resulting in stronger and more durable tools. This polishing technique was also used to make decorative elements such as per sonal ornaments.

Following a tradition started in the Mesolithic, during the Neolithic, knives, scrapers, arrowheads, etc. were almost always made of flint. But new economic activities needed tools more suited to agriculture and livestock farming.

By embedding flint flakes in pieces of wood or horns, the first sickles were made for harvesting; by attaching one of these polished axes to a sturdy stick, the most primitive hoes were created. Even with tree branches conveniently modified to lift and turn the soil by hand to prepare it for sowing, rudimentary ards were created that were later adapted to be pulled by animals.

In certain regions of Europe, where there was no arable land to be settled, forests were cleared by cutting them down with these polished axes and then burning them, thus leaving a fertile field for agricultural production.

Pottery:

One of the most important contributions in the Neolithic period was the pro duction of pottery and other containers for the storage and transport of the surplus produced.

The first pottery was made with clay, moulded by hand, decorated with small incisions and appliqués, to later be fired in ovens. In Western Europe, the old

Did you know…?

The great variety of shapes and, above all, decorations shown on pottery containers throughout prehistory has made this object a kind of "guiding fossil" for researchers, even giving its name to numerous European cultures such as the Neolithic Cardial, the Campaniform or the Cogotas I Culture.

est pottery is around 8,000-7,000 years old. Its appearance facilitated, among many other things, the storage and preservation of grains.

From the cave to the village:

With the appearance of agriculture and livestock farming, human groups be gan to adopt a sedentary lifestyle (settling permanently in one place). The tem porary settlements of these hunter-gatherer groups, who would leave a space/ territory when the resources of that space/territory were exhausted, became stable camps where the population could be sustained through control over the means of food production. Throughout the Neolithic, two different forms of occupation of the territory coexisted: caves and open-air huts; both could be places of habitat, storage, game preparation or stabling. These small sed entary settlements evolved, giving rise to the origin of cities. In the Middle East there are walled villages that are around 11,000 years old, while in the Iberian Peninsula small groupings of huts do not appear until about 8,000 years ago.

Recreation of huts in the CAREX of Atapuerca.

© Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Mining:

From the Neolithic period onwards, there was an important mining indus try, with the intention of manufacturing tools, ritual objects, personal adorn ments, etc. In addition, the various sites show the commercial relations that encouraged widespread distribution of the materials. From these mines, var iscite or calaite (green stone for the manufacture of ornamental objects), lid ite, tridymite and quartz (silica oxides suitable for the manufacture of vari ous tools) and ochre (iron hydroxides used as pigments) were extracted. Perhaps the most important example of mining in Western Europe is the Can Tintorer mines (Gavà, Barcelona), between 6,000 and 5,000 years old.

Example of a mine in Gavá, Barcelona. © www.fundacioaurora.com.

Neolithic

Burials:

During the Neolithic period, funeral practices showed many complex rituals, a great variety of forms of burial and an abundance of funerary items accompa nying the deceased.

Megalithism

New form of collective burial. Tumuli, menhirs and dolmens. Accompaniment of funeral items. It involved the use of large stone constructions, of various forms, to house group burials. It can be found in most of Europe, and more specifically in the Iberian Peninsula from the middle of the 6th millennium BP to some reuse during the Bronze Age.

It is by no means a prehistoric phase, but rather a cultural manifestation com mon to different societies in a very broad area and chronology.

Corridor dolmen. © www.turismoburgos.org

Megalith Description Function

Menhir

Elongated stone, up right. Funeral. Divine worship. Territorial.

Dolmen Three slabs as a table. Funeral. Territorial.

Corridor dolmen Using slabs, circular chamber and corridor. Funeral. Territorial.

Cromlech

Several menhirs in circular arrangement. Funeral. Sacred enclosure. Astronomical.

Area dedicated to the Neolithic at the MEH. © Museum of Human Evolution, Regional Government of Castile and Leon.

Glossary

Diabase: Igneous rock (formed when magma cools and solidifies). The lightness of this material meant that in the past it was used to make various tools due to its ease of polishing.

Dolmen: Megalithic construction composed of three stone slabs, two placed vertically and one placed horizontally, simulating a table. Corridor dolmens also appear, made up of a corridor and a circular chamber. For funerary purposes.

Menhir: Megalithic construction formed by an elongated stone slab, placed vertically. It is believed that they were funerary and territorial in nature.

Neolithic: Period characterised by the development of the productive economy (introduction of arable and livestock farming), sedentary lifestyle and the appearance of the first settlements, the use of polished stone and pottery, and the construction of megalithic monuments. In the Iberian Peninsula their dates range between 7,000 and 4,800 ago.

Sedentary: Lifestyle characterised by settling in a fixed and stable place. This way of life and settlement, which emerged in the Neolithic, continues to the present day.

Variscite: Mineral composed of aluminium phosphate, it has a bluish-green colour. The oldest variscite mines in Europe are in Gavá (Barcelona).