Las cuevas de la Sierra de Atapuerca y el uso humano del paisaje kárstico durante el Pleistoceno(Burgos, España)
- A. I. Ortega 1
- A. Benito-Calvo 1
- M. A. Martín
- A. Pérez-González 1
- J. M. Parés 1
- J. M. Bermúdez de Castro 1
- J. L. Arsuaga 2
- E. Carbonell 2
- 1 Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH)
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2
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
info
ISSN: 0366-0176
Year of publication: 2018
Volume: 129
Issue: 1-2
Pages: 83-105
Type: Article
More publications in: Boletín geológico y minero
Abstract
The Sierra de Atapuerca karst is an interesting inactive multilevel cave system, which is the result of the action of ancient base levels during the Plio-Pleistocene. It contains one of the most important prehistoric sites for the understanding of old settlements in Eurasia, and was listed by the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. These caves were formed on the bases of sub-horizontal conduits with SN paleo-drainage, with the discharge zone located in the head of Pico river. The conduits are organized into three main levels that appear perched between 90 and 60 m above the current course of the Arlanzón River, coinciding with the base levels generated mainly by the fluvial terraces T2, T3 and T5. Incision of the water table released the upper ducts from the action of water while the lower levels were being developed in the phreatic zone. The vadose caves would have been used by wildlife and hominids for more than 1.2 Ma, preserving the important archaeo-paleontological records of the Early and Middle Pleistocene.