June 30th – July 21st, 2011
at Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar,
July 21st – August 11th 2011
at Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo
Director: Michael Walker, DPhil,BM,BCh,MA,DipPreArch, FSA
Professor of Physical Anthropology
Dept. of Zoology and Physical Anthropology,
Biology Faculty, Campus Universitario de Espinardo,
Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, SPAIN
Web-page http://www.um.es/antropfisica
Emails: walker@um.es or mjwalke@gmail.com
Excavation has been ongoing for 20 years at these two sites. Cueva Negra has 6 teeth and possible long-bone fragments of pre-Neanderthal hominid remains (H. heidelbergensis), a final Early (i.e. Lower) Pleistocene fauna and Acheulian and Levalloiso-Mousterian Palaeolithic artefacts in a sedimentary deposit from a time somewhere between 780,000 and 990,000 years ago according to both biostratigraphy and now palaeomagnetism (Scott & Gibert, 2009, Nature 461:82-85). Sima de las Palomas has >300 skeletal parts (teeth, bones) of 9 or 10 Neanderthal individuals, including 3 articulated skeletons one of which is 85% complete from between 60,000 and 40,000 years ago, an early Late (i.e. Upper) Pleistocene fauna and Mousterian Palaeolithic artefacts, dated by 14C, U-ser, OSL and ESR.