Gran Dolina is a cave site in the Sierra de Atapuerca region of central Spain, approximately 15 kilometers from the town of Burgos. It is one of six important paleolithic sites located in the Atapuerca region, with occupations dated from the Lower and Middle Paleolithic periods of human history.
Gran Dolina has 18 meters of archaeological deposits, including eleven levels which include human occupations. Most of the deposits, which date between 300,000 and 780,000 years ago, are rich in animal bone and stone tools.
The Aurora Stratum at Gran Dolina
The oldest layer at Gran Dolina is called the Aurora stratum (or TD6). Recovered from TD6 were stone core-choppers, chipping debris, animal bone and hominin remains. TD6 was dated using electron spin resonance to approximately 780,000 years ago or a little earlier. Gran Dolina is one of the oldest human sites in Europe--only Dmanisi in Georgia is older.
The Aurora stratum contained the remains of six individuals, of a hominid ancestor called Homo antecessor, or perhaps H. erectus: there is some debate of the specific hominid at Gran Dolina. Elements of all six exhibited cutmarks and other evidence of butchering, including dismembering, defleshing, and skinning of the hominids--and thus Gran Dolina is the oldest evidence of human cannibalism found to date.
Sources
This definition is part of the About.com Guide to the Middle Paleolithic.
Images and more information can be found at Mark Rose's article in Archaeology magazine, A new species?. The American Museum of Natural History also has an article on Gran Dolina worth investigating.
Links to the article titles below lead to free abstracts, but articles must be purchased unless otherwise noted.
Bermudez de Castro, J. M., et al. 1999 The TD6 (Aurora stratum) hominid site, Final remarks and new questions. Journal of Human Evolution 37:695-700.
Bermudez de Castro, J. M., et al. 2004 The Atapuerca sites and their contribution to the knowledge of human evolution in Europe. Evolutionary Anthropology 13(1):25-41.
Fernández-Jalvo, Yolanda, J. C. Díez, Isabel Cáceres, and Jordi Rosell 1999 Human cannibalism in the Early Pleistocene of Europe (Gran Dolina, Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain). Journal of Human Evolution 37(3-4):591-622.
López Antoñanzas, Raquel and Gloria Cuenca Bescós 2002 The Gran Dolina site (Lower to Middle Pleistocene, Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain): new palaeoenvironmental data based on the distribution of small mammals. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 186(3-4):311-334.
Rightmire, G. P. 2008 Homo in the Middle Pleistocene: Hypodigms, variation, and species recognition. Evolutionary Anthropology 17(1):8-21.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.
