Neander Valley to host 25th archaeological excavation campaign

The Community of Madrid is launching the 25th excavation campaign in the Neander Valley, scheduled to take place from August 15 to September 15 in Pinilla del Valle. The project will bring together more than 100 archaeologists and paleontologists to work across several sites, including Carrión, Tocornal, Cueva Des-Cubierta, Cueva Chica, Cueva de la Buena Pinta, and Abrigo de Navalmaíllo.

The campaign is being coordinated by Enrique Baquedano, director of the Regional Archaeological and Paleontological Museum (MARPA), and Juan Luis Arsuaga, professor of Paleontology at the Complutense University and director of the Atapuerca Project. This marks the first campaign following the death of co-director Alfredo Pérez González.

Research at these sites has confirmed human presence dating back to at least the first half of the Middle Pleistocene. This is supported by the dating of a hominid molar found in 2023 at Cueva Des-Cubierta, which is over 480,000 years old. These findings place Pinilla del Valle among the sites with the oldest human fossils in the Iberian Peninsula.