A LITTLE BIT MORE OF PREHISTORY - The Railway Trench, an important part of Atapuerca's site

Aereal view of the Railway trench.

The Railway Trench is located in Atapuerca’s mountain range (Burgos, Spain), opposite to the Compressor’s cave (cueva del Compresor).

The Railway Trench is one kilometre long and it is full of human and animal remains that are distributed in three sites:

  1-Gran Dolina

  2-Gallery

  3-Elephant's pit

  4-Entrance (Acceso al recinto)

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT- THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATING THERE:

-Richard Preece discovered by chance in 1895 the most important site when his mineral company built the railway that was going to connect the Atapuerca’s mountain range with the line Burgos-Bilbao.

-During the Spanish Civil War there was a huge lack of interest for continuing digging there, and the trench was changed into a quarry.

- In 1964, Francisco Jordá (1914-2004) started the firs excavations there until the 70s and 80s, when Emilio Aguirre continued with it. Aguirre was the one who established the points for an investigation in Atapuerca and with him the first project started.

Francisco Jordá

-After Aguirre, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Eudald Carbonell and José María Bermúdez de Castro continued with the study in the site and they discovered the most important things and objects there.

The three scientists

-In the last years some new remains were found and nowadays there are still some expeditions.