What is the significance of Atapuerca and the pit of bones?

The find was considered to provide evidence for food sharing in early human populations. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from a 400,000 year old femur has been sequenced, the oldest hominin mtDNA recovered as of 2013. The mtDNA was found to be closer to the mtDNA of Denisova hominins than to the mtDNA of Neanderthals.

Where is the pit of bones in Spain?

Atapuerca cave
DEEP inside the Atapuerca cave system in northern Spain, 30 metres beneath the surface, lies the Sima de los Huesos, or the “pit of bones”. The remains of at least 28 ancient humans have been found at the bottom of this 12-metre-long vertical shaft.

What is the pit of bones and why is it significant?

Skulls from rich human-fossil site suggest that the species evolved feature by feature. The fossils seem to confirm that their distinctive facial features evolved stepwise. …

What artifact was found at the pit of bones?

Excalibur
They have called it Excalibur, though it was plucked from a pit of bones rather than the stone of Arthurian legend.

What was found at Atapuerca?

One of the most astonishing discoveries at Atapuerca is a cave called Sima de los Huesos (“Pit of the Bones”), where more than 1,600 human fossils, including several nearly complete skulls, have been found. The age of this material is at least 300,000 years and may be as old as 600,000 years.

Why is the pit of bones in Spain important?

Which species of human is earliest in the fossil record?

Now, a new study of the 1967 fossil site indicates the earliest known members of our species, Homo sapiens, roamed Africa about 195,000 years ago.

Why the city of Atapuerca is famous?

Atapuerca is one of Europe’s most important archaeological sites. The archaeological site of Atapuerca is one of the most important in Europe, because it has traces of hominid life in the area from a million years ago. The site lies in the small municipality of Atapuerca, about 20 kilometres north east of Burgos.