In the Iberian

Peninsula

MOST RECENT

DISCOVERIES ABOUT

PREHISTORY

Mónica Palasanu 2º bach

◼Archaeologists Juan Manuel Rojas and Alejandro Vicente found a

vessel, which was buried at 25 cm depth in a excavation in Toledo . It

was found standing.

◼The vessel is big, its size is 75 cm high and 1.5 cm thick and it is in

very good conditions.

◼It seems to be from the Bronze Age.

◼In the same excavation the archeologists found other smaller objects

like a casserole, a pout, which were used in the kitchen in this period

(1,800-1,700B.C)

TOLEDO

◼The Sima de los Huesos has a sock size. This gap acted as a natural

trap for bears which went in to the cave winter .

◼In this place Arsuaga and his team found a pile of bones. These

bones are fossils of bears.

◼In 2014 the Atapuerca team found more than 200 hominids fossils.

ATAPUERCA

Juan Luis Arsuaga descending into Sima de los Huesos site, for

what he needs to use a 15 m ladder

◼ In the Sima de los Huesos archaeologists have found seven new

skulls with an antiquity of 434, 000 years.

◼ These fossils give us a lot of information about the origin and

evolution of Neanderthals.

◼ 500,000 year ago a maternal aunt of the Neanderthals was located

in the Iberian Peninsula, in the Sima de los Huesos.

◼ This means that there was more than one human species living at

the same time in the Iberian Peninsula.

◼ Our species and the Neandertals lived together a lot of years ago.

ATAPUERCA

◼ The cave contains the most aged cave paintings at least 40,800

years of antiquity.

◼ To know the antiquity of these cave paintings the experts analyzed

the minerals like uranium and calcium which were above the

paintings.

◼ With this information we can think that these paintings were made by

the Neanderthals who were living in the Iberian Peninsula 40,000

years ago.

◼ These makes us think and to compare the Neanderthals’ art with our

art.

El Castillo Cave

◼ In Gorham’s Cave in Gibraltar archeologists have found the first

abstract engraving that Neanderthals made intentionally .

◼ It’s an engraving made on a small rock of 300 cm2

◼ SEveral crossed and parallel lines were drawn at right angles on the

floor of the cave that was inhabited by Neanderthals.

◼ That means that cognitive abilities of Neanderthals have been

undervalued by paleontologists for decades.

◼ Neanderthals had an abstract thought, similar to the Homo Sapiens.

Gibraltar

◼ http://www.abc.es/toledo/ciudad/20140914/abci-hallan-vasija-edad-bronce-201409142037.html

◼ http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/08/20/eps/1408535436_570793.html

◼ http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2014/06/19/actualidad/1403197173_091117.html

◼ http://nationalgeographic.es/noticias/ciencia/mundos-prehistoricos/pinturas-mas-antiguas

◼ http://www.elmundo.es/ciencia/2014/09/01/5404ad8de2704e490f8b458e.html

Sources