Atapuerca Mountains

The Atapuerca Mountains (Sierra de Atapuerca in Spanish) is an ancient karstic region of Spain, in the province of Burgos, Castile and Leon and near Atapuerca and Ibeas de Juarros. It contains several caves, where fossils and stone tools of the earliest known Hominins in Western Europe have been found, belonging to the species Homo antecessor (or Homo erectus antecessor) and Homo heidelbergensis. These hominid remains, representing the earliest known in western Europe, have been dated as being up to 1.2 million and 600 thousand years old, respectively. These caves, known collectively as the "Archeological Site of Atapuerca], are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.