North Murcia, Professor Walker presents the finds from this years summer camp

The summer archaeological excavation camps are working in the Region of Murcia at the moment, with students and experts from around the world participating in a number of important projects.

The Region has an  extraordinary wealth of archaeological sites, both on land and beneath the waves, with sites dating back to nearly a million years ago and the dawn of pre-human intelligence.

Professor Michael Walker, from the University of Murcia has been excavating two sites for more than 20 years; La Cueva Negra which is near to Caravaca de la Cruz in the north and La Sima de las Palomas  in Torre Pacheco.

The team have spent several weeks at the Cueva Negra, and this week proudly presented their finds, before moving down to Torre Pacheco for the remainder of the summer.

The Cueva Negra has been an interesting site for the archaeologists, constantly presenting new challenges and tantalizing evidence which takes them deeper into the past of the area.

Professor Walker started to investigate the Cueva Negra in 1981, which had been used as a hide during the Spanish Civil war and by shepherds as a shelter, the cave having a 12 metre wide entrance mouth and extending 12 metres back into the cliff face.

Throughout several seasons, excavations turned up evidence of prehistoric activity which seemed to indicate the date of the site as being around half a million years old, but in 2004 it started to look as though it could actually be much older, dating to around 650,000 years ago.

Now, however, dating techniques indicate that the site could be even older, and tentative suggestions are being made that it could even be between 800,000 and 900,000 years old.

The team have uncovered various pieces this season, which, whilst to most of us would appear to be insignificant pieces of bone and flint, are proof or intelligent activity for the archaeologists, and Professor Walker explained that, "some of the elements and utensils discovered this year demonstrate the intelligence and manual dexterity of fossil man nearly a million years ago.

Although no "humanoid " ancestor remains have been discovered this season, teeth and bones belonging to what is called Homo heidelbergensis, the forerunners to the Neanderthals who lived in the region have been found on this site in previous seasons.

It's a common misconception that Neanderthals were our human ancestors, but they were in fact a completely different "species" which died out completely when our own ancestors spread across from Africa. We are actually Homo sapiens, although I swear my husband is a throw back on occasions to the theory that there may have been some interbreeding in the very early days when the species co-existed.

There have been theories expounded that the Homo sapiens wiped out the Neanderthals due to a site which has been discovered where Neanderthal bone remains appear to show evidence of injury from Homo sapien implements, although the Professor would probably decline to ever speak to me again were that to be presented as a fact, so it's "apparently" and is just a theory presented by an isolated team.

( But it's an interesting story.)

 

It's also another urban legend that Neanderthals were not very intelligent.

If you get chance, go to the archaeological museum in Murcia. They have some extremely interesting displays on their ground floor , which show just how intelligent the Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens were, and you'll be astonished by the beauty and sophistication of the hand tools which are on show, and the objects which they were capable of making in their daily life, as well as evidence of personal adornment. There was a great deal of coverage last year when painted shells were discovered, a clear indication that these were decorated and used for personal adornment. There are decorative shells on display in the museum, although sadly, not the painted ones. There is also a display which helps to explain who was in this region and  when they were here, as well as interesting videos showing how tools were made.

 

Click Archaeological Museum, Murcia

 

Another interesting point with this site is that not all the flints and working chips come from the immediate area around the cave- some are believed to have come from a location 15km away, which shows intent and recognition of better quality materials, as these flints were transferred to this site to be fabricated into tools.

 

Other finds discovered this season also include animal remains which help the archaeologists to understand the climate at the time and the different species which would have inhabited the area.

Visiting Caravaca de la Cruz today, it's hard to imagine elephant, rhinoceros, giant deer and hyena ancestors walking around this area, but they were here when the owners of these teeth were hunting them for food and using this cave as a shelter.

 

The team are now in Torre Pacheco, in the Sima de las Palomas site, which normally holds a one day a year open day for interested visitors, so we'll let you know when the details are confirmed.

 

 

The flint is not this seasons' find, but the photos we were allowed to put out of the presentation are so bad, we've used one from last year.

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