Atapuerca Neanderthal landscape at Fuente Mudarra site in Burgos, Spain, during Marine Isotope Stages 5–3

Neanderthal groups, often underrepresented at cave sites, occupied the Sierra de Atapuerca region from the end of the middle Pleistocene through the upper Pleistocene. This is evidenced by findings from Fuente Mudarra, an open-air site near Burgos, Spain, where a 12-m² test pit excavated between 2012 and 2017 revealed multiple upper Pleistocene archaeological levels. The study suggests that Neanderthals used caves sporadically rather than as habitual dwellings, offering new insights into their spatial organization in the Atapuerca area.

Santamaría, M., Navazo, M., Benito-Calvo, A., Alonso, R., López, G. I., & Carbonell, E. (2020). Atapuerca Neanderthal landscape at Fuente Mudarra site in Burgos, Spain, during Marine Isotope Stages 5–3. Quaternary Research, 99, 248–269. https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2020.65