Portal de Torre Pacheco
www.portaldetorrepacheco.com
During the campaign, they found more flint tools and tortoise shells and bones of horses that were part of the diet of Neanderthals who inhabited the region
The site of the Sima de las Palomas Cabezo Gordo de Torre Pacheco continues to reveal details of the life of Neanderthal man during the Paleolithic.
The XXIV official archaeological excavations campaign just ended and the directors of the excavation, Michael John Walker and Mariano Vicente Lopez, took stock of the work carried out, accompanied by the Minister of Culture and Spokesperson, Noelia Arroyo, and the Mayor of Torre Pacheco, Josefa Marin.
Noelia Arroyo declared that "the Sima de las Palomas is one of the sites of the Neanderthal most important and thanks to the hard work done by archaeologists for over a decade, with Professor Walker at the helm, we continue to discover what it was life in this area about 50,000 years ago and knowing details of our ancestors. "
The excavations, coordinated by the Murcia Association for the Study of Paleoanthropology and Quaternary and supported Culture, focus since 2011 on the excavation of a layer remaining deck of a conglomerate similar to concrete hardness.
Today, working in an area where the sediment is looser and contains best preserved remains, among which several Paleolithic tools of Mousterian typology of great beauty.
In this campaign they have been numerous tortoise shells and bones of horses that were part of the diet of Neanderthals who lived in the region, along with more tools.
Also studies carried out in parallel with researchers from around the world show different vegetables that were part of their diet.
Also, the main objective for the 2015 campaign continue the excavation of this layer and test until the sediment depth of the Sima de las Palomas remains fertile.
Regarding the wealth of sites in the Region of Murcia, the Minister of Culture recalled that "the so-called 'archaeological map of the Region of Murcia' inventory is constantly updated and are now documented about 2,400 sites. On this wide heritage conducting archaeological excavations in the case of Prehistory, throw, plus information about our roots, valuable data on the landscape of the region. "
History of the site
The Sima de las Palomas is the site of Neanderthal most important Spanish Mediterranean area.
More than ten years of excavations (started in 1992) have brought to light the presence of at least ten individuals of Neanderthal man represented by hundreds of bones and teeth.
Three skeletons belonging to two adults and a young age about 50,000 years, were found almost complete and in anatomical connection, an exceptional event on the world stage.
On one of the adults, named 'Pigeon', was published in 2011 an article in the prestigious US scientific journal Proceedings of National the Academy of Sciences' because it is the most complete Neanderthal skeleton in the entire European Mediterranean coast and has the world's most comprehensive female Neanderthal pelvis.
The total number of fragmented Neanderthal bones and teeth recovered in different excavation campaigns corresponds to over 300 items classified.
Such moieties include items belonging to the three articulated skeletons, along with others that show the presence of seven other individuals, both adults and children and babies.
The first remains of the Sima de las Palomas were found accidentally in 1991. The scientific investigation began a year later, in 1992, under the supervision of Dr Michael Walker professors of the University of Murcia, José Gibert Clols, the Paleontological Institute Barcelona Provincial Council in Sabadell, who died in 2007. He is currently directing research Professor Walker, the archaeologist Mariano López Martínez and Dr. of the University of Murcia, María Uriarte Haber.
Source: CARM
Privacy policy
- Legal notice
- Cookies