The Valley of the Neanderthals
Pinilla del Valle archaeological park
The project "The Valley of the Neanderthals" Its main objective is to study archeopaleontological sites discovered in the Upper Valley of the Lozoya River near the town of Pinilla del Valle, Madrid.
It is a group that currently includes seven karst sites with chronologies that span from the last third of the Middle Pleistocene until mid Upper Pleistocene (enter 300.000-40.000 years before today).
These sites contain records of both the animals and plants that lived in the Valley throughout this time, as well as the human beings who chose the caves and shelters as a dwelling, and the activities they carried out.
Two species are the main protagonists in this set of deposits. On the one hand, the Neanderthal man, Homo neanderthalensis, and on the other, the spotted hyena, Crocuta crocuta. They were the ones that originated the concentrations of remains of other vertebrate species that are found today in the deposits, when they are hunted and transported to the shelters and caves to consume them and finally leave their remains in them.
The study of this set of sites, carried out by a wide group of specialists in different fields of archeology, paleontology and geology, is allowing us to reconstruct the environmental changes experienced by the Alto del Lozoya Valley over almost 300.000 years and appreciate how those Changes have affected the behavior of hominids, as well as the species of fauna and flora that lived in this Valley.
The ultimate goal of these investigations, and therefore, of the project "The Valley of the Neanderthals" is to spread this knowledge to society.
Research lines
Elaboration of explanation models of the processes that have led to the formation of the caves and shelters where the yacim are located
Identification of the remains and species of animals and plants that shared the Alto del Lozoya Valley with the human groups of the Pleistoce
Description and identification of fossil remains of hominids found in the deposits of the Alto del Lozoya Valley.
Study of the daily behavior of the Pleistocene human groups from their archaeological record and their material culture.
The co-directors
Juan Luis Arsuaga
Professor of paleontology, co-director of the excavations in the Sierra de Atapuerca in Burgos, director of the UCM-ISCIII Research Center on Human Evolution and Behavior and director of the Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos.
Enrique Baquedano
Archaeologist, director of the Archaeological and Paleontological Museum of the Community of Madrid, director of the Institute of Evolution in Africa (IDEA) and co-director of the Excavations in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania.
Alfredo Pérez González
Professor of geology, director of the National Research Center on Human Evolution (CENIEH) and co-director of the excavations carried out in Ambrona and Torralba.
Guided tours
Book your visit to the valley of the Neanderthals through its website www.elvalledelosneandertales.com where you will find much more information related to the project
Location
Contact
Information, contact and reservation of visits through the web www.elvalledelosneandertales.com
For more information:
Archaeological and Paleontological Museum of the Community of Madrid
Schedule:
From Tuesday to Saturday from 11 to 19 hours
Sundays and holidays from 11 to 15 hours
Closed on Mondays
Address:
Plaza de las Bernardas s / n
28801 Alcalá de Henares
Madrid
Contact:
Telephone: 91 879 66 66
Email: mar@madrid.org