Atapuerca

A nineteenth-century railway cutting through the Atapuerca hills exposed a series of cave fills, and excavation since 1978 has made them the most important early human sites in Europe. The Gran Dolina produced remains dated to around 800,000 years ago, assigned to Homo antecessor and the oldest confirmed humans in western Europe; the Sima de los Huesos, at the bottom of a thirteen-metre shaft, has yielded the bones of at least twenty-eight individuals from around 430,000 years ago, an accumulation whose cause is debated and which represents the largest such assemblage anywhere. UNESCO listed the sites in 2000. The Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos holds the finds and interprets them.

What you actually see

• The Gran Dolina - the trench section holding 800,000-year-old remains.
• The railway cutting - the nineteenth-century trench that exposed the caves.
• The Museum of Human Evolution - the finds and interpretation, in Burgos.
• The guided excavation route - a visit through the working archaeological sites.

When to go

April to June and September to November; site visits are guided only, must be booked, and are affected by the summer excavation season when parts close. The Burgos museum is open year-round.

Honest expectations

The sites themselves are excavation trenches with nothing on display; the fossils are in the Burgos museum, twenty kilometres away. Visits are guided in Spanish with limited English. Booking is essential and slots fill.

Nearby

Burgos and its cathedral are fifteen kilometres west; the Camino Frances passes through Atapuerca village.