120 members of IPHES-CERCA and URV participate in the excavation campaign at the Sierra de Atapuerca

This morning, the 49th excavation campaign at the Sierra de Atapuerca sites (Burgos) was officially presented. It is one of the world's leading scientific projects in the study of human evolution. The event included the participation of several members of the Atapuerca project's co-direction team, including Dr. Marina Mosquera, professor at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili and director of IPHES-CERCA, and Dr. Andreu Ollé, researcher at the institute and professor at URV, who are part of the team responsible for the scientific direction of this international project.

This year's campaign will bring together more than 300 researchers from domestic and international research centers and universities, distributed across three work shifts between June and July. In this first phase of the fieldwork, 120 members of IPHES-CERCA and the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) are participating, including research and technical staff, as well as students from the interuniversity master's degree in Quaternary Archaeology and Human Evolution (Erasmus Mundus).

IPHES-CERCA maintains a prominent role within the Atapuerca Research Team (EIA), both in the scientific direction of the project and in the coordination of several key sites. This participation reinforces the role of IPHES-CERCA in a project that, for decades, has contributed decisively to the knowledge of Europe's earliest hominin inhabitants and human evolution.

During this campaign, IPHES-CERCA research staff will coordinate work at the Sima del Elefante, Galería, Gran Dolina-TD6, Cueva Fantasma, and Cueva del Mirador sites, as well as sediment washing and microvertebrate recovery tasks at the Arlanzón River. The scientific objectives include deepening the study of the earliest human occupations of Western Europe, advancing knowledge of Homo antecessor and Lower and Middle Pleistocene human populations, investigating documented Neanderthal occupations in the Sierra, and continuing to explore the agricultural and livestock communities that inhabited this territory during recent prehistory.

Sima del Elefante Site

Coordinated by Dr. Rosa Huguet, researcher at IPHES-CERCA, and by Dr. Xosé-Pedro Rodríguez, professor at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili and researcher at IPHES-CERCA.

The objectives of the 2026 campaign focus on continuing the excavation of level TE7 to identify the formation processes of the deposit and expand the available fossil record of the human populations that occupied Western Europe approximately 1.2 million years ago. The work will also allow for a deeper understanding of their subsistence strategies.

Another main objective is to study the erosion and infilling processes documented at the base of the cavity to establish the stratigraphic relationship between level TE7 and the lower sedimentary deposits. This research is essential for understanding the geological and sedimentary evolution of one of the sites that has provided some of the earliest evidence of human presence in Western Europe.

The Galería Site

Coordinated by Dr. Isabel Cáceres, professor at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili and researcher at IPHES-CERCA, and by Dr. Paola García Medrano, associate researcher at IPHES-CERCA.

During the Middle Pleistocene, Galería functioned as a natural trap where numerous animals fell, which were subsequently exploited by both carnivores and human groups. This dynamic has made the site a privileged space to study the strategies for obtaining animal resources developed more than 250,000 years ago.

The 2026 campaign will continue the excavation of subunit GIIb, one of the richest in the archaeological sequence. The work will focus on the study of several areas with concentrations of fauna and lithic industry associated with human activity, as well as sectors affected by subsequent geological processes. The goal is to deepen the knowledge of the use of the cavity and the activities carried out by the human groups that occupied it.

The Gran Dolina Site (Level TD6)

Coordinated by Dr. Palmira Saladié, researcher at IPHES-CERCA, and Dr. Andreu Ollé, researcher at IPHES-CERCA.

Gran Dolina is one of Atapuerca's most emblematic sites and contains one of the most important archaeological sequences in Europe. Located within unit TD6 is the well-known Aurora Stratum, where fossils attributed to Homo antecessor were recovered and where the earliest known evidence of cannibalism to date was documented.

Following the results obtained during the 2024 and 2025 campaigns, this year's objectives focus on completing the excavation of subunit TD6.1, characterized by an exceptional accumulation of hyena coprolites and the presence of the first human fossils recovered in this new phase of the work.

The primary objective is to gain full access to level TD6.2, the famous Aurora Stratum, where nearly 180 human fossils and thousands of archaeological and faunal remains were recovered between 1994 and 2011. This new excavation phase opens up an exceptional opportunity to expand knowledge about Homo antecessor and the earliest human populations that occupied Western Europe approximately 850,000 years ago.

Cueva Fantasma Site

Co-coordinated by Dr. Josep Vallverdú, researcher at IPHES-CERCA.

The 2026 campaign will continue investigating some of the sectors with the greatest archaeological and stratigraphic potential at the site. The work will focus mainly on extending the test pit of unit CF18, which consists of Lower Pleistocene deposits that can provide key information about the early stages of occupation and cavity formation.

Excavation will also continue in unit CF24, and the open-area excavation of unit CF26 will begin. The latter is one of the most relevant Upper Pleistocene levels due to its connection with Neanderthal occupations and the presence of a significant assemblage of lithic industry and faunal remains.

In parallel, preliminary work will be carried out in the Cueva Fantasma Cave Mouth area, including clearing and ground preparation tasks that will allow progress in geophysical studies and the future excavation of this strategic sector.

Cueva de El Mirador Site

Coordinated by Dr. Ethel Allué, researcher at IPHES-CERCA and associate professor at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, and Dr. Josep Maria Vergès, researcher at IPHES-CERCA.

During the 2026 campaign, plans are to continue working in sectors 100 and 200 of the cavity, following the strategy developed in recent years. The work will continue to deepen step-by-step in areas near the ceiling and the north wall of the cave, aiming to document the evolution of the archaeological deposits.

The research will also continue to incorporate innovative methodologies, such as the application of the POTFLOW protocol for the identification, recording, and sampling of residues preserved in ceramic vessels. These analyses provide information on the domestic and dietary practices of the agricultural and livestock communities that occupied the cavity during recent prehistory.

Likewise, the surfaces of the fumier (dung) deposits will continue to be documented using photogrammetry, which is essential for reconstructing the activities carried out by the first food-producing groups in the Sierra de Atapuerca.

Washing Work at the Arlanzón River and Biostratigraphy

Work coordinated by Dr. Juan Manuel López-García, researcher at IPHES-CERCA, and by Dr. Carmen Núñez, associate researcher at IPHES-CERCA.

On the banks of the Arlanzón River, in the municipality of Ibeas de Juarros, sediments from the different sites excavated during the campaign are processed. This work is essential for recovering the remains of small vertebrates, such as rodents, shrews, bats, amphibians, reptiles, and birds, which constitute a fundamental tool for reconstructing past climatic, environmental, and chronological conditions.

The sediments undergo washing and sieving processes using different mesh sizes, allowing the recovery of very small fossil remains that often go unnoticed during excavation.

The main objective is to process as much sediment as possible to obtain new data on the ecosystems inhabited by our ancestors and to improve the chronological and paleoenvironmental contextualization of the Sierra de Atapuerca sites.