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Discovery of the Neanderthal sites of Calvero de la Higuera

Pinilla del Valle, Sierra Norte, Madrid

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Discovery of the Neanderthal sites of Calvero de la Higuera

Historical milestone · Pinilla del Valle, Sierra Norte, Madrid

Road works next to the reservoir uncovered the Cueva del Camino in 1979, one of the five sites making up the Calvero de la Higuera complex, in the Lozoya valley: alongside it are the Abrigo de Navalmaíllo, the Cueva de la Buena Pinta, the Abrigo Ocelado and the Cueva Des-Cubierta. The excavations yielded molars of Homo neanderthalensis, Mousterian industry and a fauna some 90,000 years old including hyenas, lions, bears, rhinoceroses, horses and fallow deer, and the site is now known as the Valle de los Neandertales. The complex was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural in 2004 (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) as the Zona Arqueológica y Paleontológica Los Calveros.

1979

Photo: Cruccone (CC BY 3.0)

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