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Prehistoric Spain

By Lindsey Cook
PREHISTORIC SPAIN

Spain has many prehistoric sites, the most famous of these is found in Atapuerca in the North of Spain near Burgos. The prehistoric park in Atapuerca contains both human bones and fossil remains. Archaeologists through their examinations of this material have been able to shed light on prehistoric Spain.

Another important site, also found in the North of Spain, is the Altamira cave which is found just 30km from Santander. In fact there are several caves in this site which contain excellent examples of prehistoric art. The cave paintings found in Altamira were the first of their sort to be discovered and not just in Spain but throughout the world. The discovery of the paintings caused great surprise as many people did not think that prehistoric people were capable of producing such works!

Spain is also home to a large site which houses dinosaur remains. Lo Hueco near Cuenca contains many different types of dinosaur skeletons. The site was discovered in 2007 and is one of the most diverse and best preserved sites within Europe.

These prehistoric sights have allowed archaeologists to make important discoveries about prehistoric Spain. The contents of the sites date back thousands and thousand of years!

ATAPUERCA

Excavations of the Atapuerca caves began in 1984. The caves contain prehistoric art as well as bones of humans and prehistoric animals. Archaeologists through their examination of the material have been worked out that the site was inhabited by humans around 800,000 years ago!

However the archaeologists have actually been able to discover far more details about the prehistoric population: by analysing some of the bones which were found in the caves archaeologists have revealed that the people who used the cave were cannibals. This discovery provides the earliest known evidence of cannibalism.

The site contains an area which is now known as the Sima de los Huesos, the bone pit. When it was excavated more than 5,000 human bones were found. Due to the high numbers of bones found all in the one area of the site, it is thought that this area may have been a burial ground for the people.

However there is more to the site than just bones alone! The site also contains a gallery of carvings, some of which date back to the Bronze Age. It was made a UNESCO world heritage site in 2000. The reason that the site is of such great international importance is that it provides great evidence about on of the earliest known European communities and their ways of life.

Thus Spain’s archaeological sights are of great importance in shedding light upon both prehistoric Spain and European populations.



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