Portal de Caravaca de la Cruz
www.portaldecaravaca.com
The site of the Black Cave Strait Quípar River is about 800,000 years old and have obtained Palaeolithic remains and fossil man, ie six teeth and bone fragments of European fossil man or Homo heidelbergensis preneandertal type (scientific name fossil hominid that lived in Europe between 800,000 and 150,000 years ago in the Pleistocene, which was evolving into Neanderthals or Homo neanderthalensis).
For its part, the remains of the Black Cave Paleolithic form a unique whole "Acheulean-levaloisomusteroide" which is the oldest of such a classification in Europe.
LATEST NEWS
In this July new remains have been excavated Paleolithic-flakes and retouched pieces, which reaffirms the unique characteristics of the lithic assemblage "Acheulean-levaloisomusteroide" as defined in previous campaigns by the unique coexistence in the same strata of the following ways:
- An Acheulean handaxe over a ridge of limestone;
- The removal of some chips by the technique of the size of nodules, typical of the sequence of core reduction levaloisense flint;
- Flakes of flint with sharp-edged retouching musteroide carved.
They have also been recovered during the campaign numerous remains of animals that were the basis of subsistence hunters and gatherers who inhabited the cave, from large mammals such as rhinos, to water voles, birds and turtles.
Some items found this year offer cut marks made by man and fire, which are clear evidence of exploitation of bygone Biodiversity Man-fossil.
In addition, several species of animals, now extinct, highlighted the great antiquity of the site.
During the past two years have conducted two separate research work by scientists in their own Cueva Negra and subsequently processed in laboratories at Oxford (England) and Berkeley (USA) - who have made amazing results relation to the chronological definition of the sedimentary surprisingly high that we're digging:
1.
New dates geophysical, held in Oxford in the methodology "OSL Stimulation" or optically stimulated luminescence of sediment now define an age between 650,000 and 900,000 years (provided earlier dates in 2006 and had indicated older than 350-400000).
2.
Paleomagnetic research indicates that all the cave sediments are older than 780,000 years according to many samples from the cave by the Berkeley team that analyzed recently.
These new data AMAZING PLACE THE BLACK CAVE AT THE END OF THE OLD PLEISTOCENE
Reaffirms that the abundance of old fossils of extinct rodents, utilizing the methodology of Biostratigraphy, show that should belong to an era more than 500,000 years and which are perfectly acceptable these dates geophysical (eg, the now defunct rat savini Mimomys water, as well Pitymys huescarensis, Pliomys episcopalis, and pika Prolagus calpensis).
The larger fauna may also apply without problem defined period (the rhinoceros Stephanorhinus hemitoechus, Megaloceroides giant deer, the horse Equus sussenbornensis, macaque Macaca sylvanus and bison Bison sp.).
MEANING AND IMPORTANCE OF JOINT DUG FOR EUROPEAN PREHISTORY and paleoanthropology
Until the excavation of the Black Cave had not been found in Europe a Palaeolithic Acheulian-levaloisomusteroide as old as this, the end of the Pleistocene Old, and the uniqueness of the site is in the presence also of human fossil remains of Homo heidelbergensis.
Also of note is the fact that each and every one of the excavated levels in the sediment (which reaches 5 feet deep) provide evidence of human presence or activity continuously and without interruption.
Even when just three years ago we thought that all corresponded to a period about 500,000 years, the unique set was considered spectacular enough for the Professor of Prehistory Ofer Bar-Yosef, Harvard University-highest international authority ancient Paleolithic in the Middle East and Eurasia, accept a forty-page special feature on the Black Cave written by Professor Walker and his colleagues has been published for fifteen months in the prestigious international journal edited by him which is Eurasian Prehistory, the American School of Prehistory at the University of Harvard (MJWalker, T. Rodríguez Estrella, JSCarrión García, Jiménez MAMancheño, JL.Schwenninger, M. López Martínez, A. López Jiménez, M. San Nicolas del Toro, and T. MDHills Walkling: "Cueva Negra del Río Quípar Strait (Murcia, Southeast Spain): An Acheulian Levallois-Mousteroid and assemblage of Palaeolithic artifacts excavated in a Middle Pleistocene faunal context with hominin skeletal Remains." Eurasian Prehistory 4 (1-2): 3-43 , 2006, Cambridge, Mass., USA, Harvard University, Peabody Museum, American School of Prehistoric Research, ISSN 1730-8518, ISBN 8391641597).
However, the latest data, so amazing and important for Prehistory and Paleoanthropology of our continent, far beyond the allotted age, and even as recently published.
In 2009 he published a chapter written by Professor Walker in a book by Cambridge University Press that highlights the importance of the complicated technology of the Black Cave Paleolithic to our scientific understanding of the evolution of human cognition (MJ Walker, "Chapter 7. Long-term memory and Middle Pleistocene `Mysterians'", pg. 75-84 in SA de Beaune, FLCoolidge and T. Wynn, eds, Cognitive Archaeology and Human Evolution. Cambridge and New York, Cambridge University Press, 2009, ISBN 0521746116).
In January 2009 MJWalker presented the results of studies on the Black Cave at the National Academy ensures British Archaeology, which is the prestigious Society of Antiquaries of London, which received its charter from King George I in the early eighteenth century.
He also made another presentation in April at the Torre Guil CEMACAM in Murcia, in an act of homage to Darwin which also involved researchers Camilo Jose Cela Conde, Eudald Carbonell and José Maria Bermudez de Castro, who heads the National Center Investigation of Human Evolution, in Burgos.
Technical note: In 2009 the International Geological Union has reformed the absolute chronology of the Pleistocene geological epoch, the base is now fixed at 2.5 million years (before it was considered in 1.8 million).
OLD is divided into Pleistocene (2,500,000 to 780,000 years), Medium (780,000 to 130,000 years) and RECENT (130,000 to 10,000 years).
By international agreement, scientists have recently abolished the use of the traditional name of the Pleistocene "Bottom" and "Superior" is now officially called Old and Late Pleistocene, but the Middle Pleistocene remains intact.
And 10,000 years ago began the current period, designated Holocene.
THE CAVE WAS USED BY THE FOSSIL MAN DURING A WARM PERIOD end of the Pleistocene interglacial approximately 800,000 OLD YEARS AGO
The climate is demonstrated by:
1.
Remains of prehistoric animals: elephants, rhinoceros, giant deer, red deer, bison, aurochs, wild horses, wild boar, Spanish goat, monkey, hyena, bear, wolf, hare, rabbit, pika, turtle, several small rodents, and more sixty species of birds, which show the presence of ecologically diverse environments around our cave, where primitive man enjoyed biodiversity offered by the proximity of lakes and wetlands, riparian forests of the valley, steppe plateau, steep slopes the mountains and so forth.
2.
Remains of fossil pollen: Pollen shows the presence of both varied and mixed woodland, composed of pine, oak or oak, Kermes oak, hazel, birch, beech, elm, willow, maple, yew, mastic, strawberry, palmetto, wild olive juniper, ivy, boxwood, as smaller plants typical of open space.
Significance of the remains for Human Palaeoecology:
The remains of animals and plants indicate the presence of an enclave or shelter features an impressive biodiversity, where plants and animals were protected by relatively mild conditions within a regional environment subject to the severity of the cold that prevailed during the long glacial periods Middle Pleistocene that still plagues the cave which is 800 meters high and opens to the north, with winter temperatures below freezing all day.
Of the excavated remains show that weather conditions were more humid than at present, with frequent rains that fed the river Quípar creating a lake that was probably a mile north of our cave, where we have excavated bones of diving ducks, they need deep water.
Interpretation of site:
The wreckage was found at all levels within five meters of sediment filling the cave.
It highlights both the diversity of Paleolithic elements such as the excellent state of preservation of faunal remains.
The singular importance of the site for the advancement of scientific knowledge lies in the triple presence of traces:
(1) of the Paleoanthropology of Homo heidelbergensis fossil man;
(2) of the animals and plants that formed the Human Paleocología 800,000 years ago;
(3) of two types-Acheulean paleolithic and levaloisomusteroide-in-one set Acheulean levaloisomusteroide, highlighting the overlap of the supposed Palaeolithic "Old" and "Medium", in a habitat of the Pleistocene Old final plateau Northwest Region of Murcia.
BLACK CAVE AND THE UNIVERSITY OF MURCIA (UMU)
The Black Cave is ideal for scientific training of students and graduates, both biologists and archaeologists in the application of the methodology for Quaternary research, while providing valuable information on the nature and daily life of fossil man.
Horizontal sedimentary deposition and stratigraphic interpretation facilitates the nearby river sediment facilitates the screening of excavated by the washing method.
Dimensions of the excavation and methodology:
- Area under excavation in the cave: 20 sqm.
- Volume of excavated soil, over sixty cubic meters since 1990.
- Maximum depth of excavated fill: 5 meters.
- Excavation minor manual tools (diamond-shaped stirrer, brushes, scalpels, etc.), With registration and documentation of the items found, disintegration of the sediment removed by washing on fine sieves with water pumped from the river (which runs 40 meters below the cave), to enable the identification and collection of smaller items, always up to 2 mm in size and sometimes even just 1 mm (eg tiny elements of stone tools and teeth of rodents) .
THE CURRENT NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL TEAM
Composition of the excavation team in 2009:
Teachers, lawyers, students and staff of Murcia:
Director: Prof. Dr. D.
Michael Walker (paleoanthropologist and prehistory, as well as physician and physiologist), which since 1998 manages the area of Physical Anthropology, Department of Zoology and Physical Anthropology in the Faculty of Biology, University of Murcia which is assimilated to the professors of it.
Co-Director: D.
Mariano López Martínez (archaeologist from the University of Murcia, has worked for fifteen years with Professor Walker at the site.)
Co-Director: Dr ª.
D ª.
Haber Maria Uriarte (archaeologist from the University of Salamanca, where he read the thesis of Neanderthal Man in Spain, based in Murcia since 2004).
- D.
Antonio López Jiménez (biologist from the University of Murcia, conducts doctoral research on fossil rodents in the area of Physical Anthropology of the University of Murcia).
-D.
Juan Ortega Rodrigáñez (biologist at the Autonomous University of Madrid, conducts research on Neanderthal remains in the area of Physical Anthropology of the University of Murcia).
-D.
Campillo Matías Boj (archaeologist from the University of Murcia).
- D ª.
Azucena Fernández Avilés (biologist from the University of Murcia).
- Communication Coordinator: D.
Jesus Garcia Torres (audiovisual technician, specialty degree in audiovisual communication with the UCAM, master's degree in audiovisual communication and journalism from the University of Murcia).
2.
International partners of the team:
2.1 Veterans of previous campaigns:
- Christopher Pollock, American (anthropologist and archaeologist, PhD, University of California at Santa Barbara).
- Samuel Griffiths, British (archaeologist from the University of Reading, PhD at the University of Southampton, UK).
2.2 New team members in 2009:
- Kellie Carlson, Irish (anthropologist and archaeologist, MBA from Yale University, USA, PhD at the University of Southampton, UK).
- Tegan Daly, Scottish (archaeologist and a Masters in Human Osteoarqueología, University of Edinburgh, UK).
- Aileen Tierney, Irish (archaeologist and a Masters in Human Osteoarqueología from University College in Cork, Ireland).
- Nicholas Holowka, American (anthropologist from Wesleyan University, MA in Human Skeletal Biology in the New York University, USA).
- Tara Ingman, U.S. (anthropologist and archaeologist by the New York University, USA).
- Carlos Javier Del Rio Villaseñor, Mexican (physical anthropologist and archaeologist by the New York University, USA).
- James Kilpatrick, Canadian (archaeologist and anthropologist from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada).
- Madeleine Macks, American (student of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA)
- Lorien Perchard, Australia (student of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia)
- Sydney Tuller, American (student of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Arizona, Tucson, USA)
- Andrew Best, U.S. (student of anthropology at Miami University of Ohio, USA).
- Jesse Wolfhagen, U.S. (student of Anthropology and Archaeology at New York University, USA)
- Winston Zack, U.S. (student of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Arizona, Tucson, USA)
- Ana Maria Martinez Porcel
Sponsorship and Partnership:
- Hon.
Ayuntamiento de Caravaca de la Cruz.
- University of Murcia, Faculty of Biology, Department of Zoology and Physical Anthropology, Physical Anthropology Area.
Website: http://www.um.es/antropfisica
- University of Oxford, Department of Physics, "Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art"
- Berkeley Geochronology Center, USA
- Oulu University, Dept. of Archaeology, Finland.
- We appreciate the kindness of the owner of the cave, D.
Amancio Marsilla, allowing the excavation, in addition to the official permit issued by the Directorate General of Fine Arts and Cultural Assets.
Scientific collaborators with the excavation of the Black Cave at various relevant sites:
- Prof. Dr. D.
Tomás Rodríguez Estrella (hydrogeologist, School of Mining Engineering, Geology and Cartography, Technical University of Cartagena)
- Prof. Dr. D.
Gary Scott and Dr. D.
Lluis Gibert Beotas (geologists, geophysicists, Berkeley Geochronology Center, USA)
-Prof.
Dr. D.
Erik Trinkaus (anthropologist, Department of Anthropology, Washington University of St. Louis, USA)
- Prof. Dr. D.
Antonio Ruiz-Bustos (geologist, paleontologist, Andalusian Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Granada)
- Prof. Dr. D.
José Sebastián Carrión García (paleopalinólogo, Department of Botany and Plant Biology, University of Murcia, Faculty of Biology)
- Prof. Dr. D.
Jean-Luc Schwenninger (archaeologist, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Department of Physics, University of Oxford)
- Prof. Dr. D.
Milton Nunez Gilabert (geologist and archaeologist, Department of Archaeology, University of Oulu, Finland)
- Prof. Dr. Alistair Pike (Thorium-Uranium Laboratory, Department of Archaeology, University of Bristol)
- Prof. Dr. Joao Zilhao (Professor of Palaeolithic Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, University of Bristol)
- Prof. Dr. D.
Mancheño Miguel Angel Jimenez (geologist, Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Soil Science and Geology, University of Murcia)
- Prof. Dr. D.
Derek Roe (Professor Emeritus of Archaeology of the Paleolithic and former Director of the Donald Baden-Powell "Quaternary Research Centre of the" Pitt-Rivers Museum, University of Oxford).
Source: Ayuntamiento de Caravaca de la Cruz
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