El Mirador cave (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain): a whole perspective

Abstract

The archaeological site of El Mirador is located in the southern slope of the Sierra de Atapuerca. The work developed at the site is providing a substantial set of data from the Upper Palaeolithic and Early Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age. Throughout at least about 4000 years of occupation, the cave was used for various activities, among which, burial, habitation and animal stalling. The practices related with this last use is, at the moment, the main origin of the archaeological deposits, which are mainly composed by burnt animal dung with vegetal residues, potsherds, lithics and faunal remains. In addition, it is characterized by high sedimentation rates that have enabled an individual and clear record of different episodes, providing high resolution chronological data. Due to these particularities, specific excavation methodology and interdisciplinary studies of the archaeological data have been developed in order to understand the genesis of this archaeological sequence and, at the same time, to provide information about the introduction and development of the production economy in the Submeseta Norte region.