Portal de Torre Pacheco
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The site of the Sima de las Palomas Cabezo Gordo de Torre Pacheco continues to reveal details of the life of Neanderthal man.
The XXV Campaign paleoanthropological and archaeological excavations ends tomorrow and the excavation director, Michael Walker, along with co-directors, Mariano Lopez and Maria Haber, conducted today a balance of work carried out and reported the new findings of fossil man Neandertal, prior to the hitherto documented.
The excavations, coordinated by the Murcia Association for the Study of Paleoanthropology and Quaternary and supported by the Ministry of Culture and Spokesperson and the City of Torre Pacheco, focus since 2011 on the excavation of a lower layer which remained a conglomerate cover a hardness similar to concrete.
In this campaign of 2016, the excavation has advanced a respectable depth and is now working in a layer two meters below the articulated skeletons, and almost five meters under the same rocky peak which had come stuffing sediment of the pit when his methodical excavation began two decades ago.
Work on this layer have provided the first fossils of Neanderthals (two teeth) dug at deep levels, which would now eleven individuals identified at the site, which is the most important set of remains fossil human species Homo neanderthalensis around the Mediterranean arc, highlighting the presence of three articulated skeletons.
In addition to the new found human fossils, the layer in which you work is extraordinarily rich in animal remains from the turtle and the rabbit to the horse and deer.
There are thousands of charred remains, mostly small and crushed, indicating the importance of the place for roast meat.
In addition, we found numerous flint tools, marble and quartz, among which there are tips and Mousterian scrapers.
The excavation has revealed a number of issues of scientific significance as the use of fire, use of plants in the diet, fossil pollen and the presence of Neanderthals in the Sima de las Palomas before and found and dated burials makes 50,000 years.
Specifically, the new samples are providing evidence of an age of about 65,000 years could reach 90,000 years.
History of the site
The Sima de las Palomas is the site of most important Neanderthal man around the Spanish Mediterranean arc.
The first remains of the Sima de las Palomas were found by chance in 1991. The scientific investigation began a year later, under the supervision of Dr Michael Walker of the University of Murcia, José Gibert Clols, the Paleontological Institute of the Council of Barcelona Sabadell, who died in 2007.
Almost fifteen years of excavations have brought to light the presence of at least eleven individuals Neanderthals.
The total number of bones and teeth recovered Neanderthals in different campaigns corresponds to more than 300 skeletons clasificados.Tres elements belonging to two adults and a young man from an age of about 50,000 years, they were found almost complete and in anatomical connection;
an exceptional event on the world stage.
In addition, many show the presence of at least eight other individuals, both adults and children and infants.
On one of the adults, baptized 'Paloma', it was published in 2011 an article in the prestigious US scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 'because it is the most complete Neanderthal skeleton in the entire European Mediterranean coast and has the world's most complete female pelvis.
Currently they conduct research Professor Walker, archaeologist Dr. Mariano Lopez and Maria UMU Haber, with the collaboration of numerous experts from institutions around the world.
Source: CARM
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