Field School

Field School Poster 2023 (PDF)
BRIEFING YOU 2023

Excavation has been ongoing for 30 years at both sites. Cueva Negra has abundant evidence of fire, a final Early (i.e. Lower) Pleistocene fauna, an “Acheulian” hand-axe, numerous flake-tools, and extinct fauna in sediments laid down between 772,000 and 990,000 years ago (probably during the interglacial period from 868,000 to 814,000 years ago), according to biostratigraphy, palaeomagnetism, and geophysical dating. Sima de las Palomas has >300 skeletal parts (teeth, bones) of 15 Neanderthal individuals, including 3 articulated skeletons one of which is 85% complete 55,000-50,000 years ago, an early Late (i.e. Upper) Pleistocene fauna, and Mousterian Palaeolithic artifacts, dated by 14C, U-ser, OSL and ESR, with new finds of Neanderthals teeth and mandible, fauna, and Mousterian artifacts in deep layers dated to 130,000-90,000 years ago.

We invite applicants to take part in our 2023 summer field season. Covid vaccination certification is obligatory.Thanks to vaccines, covid-19 will have abated enough in 2023 to allow our fieldwork as in 2022 (suspended in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic) All applicants are considered sympathetically; prior archaeological experience is less important than keenness. To apply, send an email with brief cv after going to our MUPANTQUAT web-page, clicking there on FIELD SCHOOL and then on “BRIEFING YOU” (there’s no application form to fill in; we keep paperwork to a minimum). MUPANTQUAT (Murcian Association for the Study of Palaeoanthropology and the Quaternary) coordinates the Field School and excavations, issues your Certificate of Attendance, and makes you a member for the current year (we also sign forms you bring from your university).

poster_2013_2While at Cueva Negra (Session 1) we stay at the residential Ascruz school (which has its own kitchen staff) at Caravaca de la Cruz. While at Sima de las Palomas (Session 2) we put bunks in the public school at Dolores de Pacheco and take our meals in the restaurant of the village civic centre nearby. Both schools have showers, cleaning staff, and concierges. We organise laundry at both places. Both schools give us some access (often erratic, alas) to wifi and internet. We can use the municipal public swimming pools at Caravaca and Dolores (which is also near the beach). At both places, you must bring sheets, pillow-slip, towel, soap and shower-gel. Summer is hot in Murcia: you’ll get a chance to swim. Bring light work clothes and flat-soled light footwear for Cueva Negra but bring work boots for Sima de las Palomas. Bring sun-hats, sun-glasses, sun-cream, swimmers. If you’ve an EU driver’s licence (or otherwise an International Driving Permit), please bring it. Your contribution includes all meals and laundry.

We do not meet or set down helpers on days other than the start and finish dates of each session (Fridays). On those 3 Fridays we meet our helpers at Región de Murcia International Airport on the first day of each session and set them down on the last. Budget airlines fly to it from the UK and other countries. For Sima de las Palomas we can meet helpers at the Balsicas-Mar Menor railway station where trains stop that go to Cartagena; however, the newly-opened (December 20th, 2022), costly, high-speed “Ave” train service from Madrid ends at Murcia where you´ll need to change to a train to Cartagena. The service of cheaper, slower, through trains from Madrid to Cartagena that call at Murcia and Balsicas-Mar Menor has been suspended temporarily: it may resume in 2023. Be aware that on all long-distance trains in Spain you must book a seat in advance (e.g., on-line at the RENFE website), and that Spanish railway time-tables usually change in May for the Summer. We do not meet rail travellers at Murcia “El Carmen” railway station that often is far too crowded for us to be able to guarantee finding you! So, if you arrive at it, take a taxi to Murcia “San Andrés” bus station (as walking to it with luggage takes about forty-five minutes) and then buses to Caravaca bus station for Session 1 or Torre Pacheco bus station for Session 2. If you arrive by plane at Madrid’s Barajas Airport you can get a direct “Alsa” coach from the airport that leaves at 8.30 a.m. daily (you must book on-line beforehand at the ALSA website) and stops at Murcia bus station and then at Torre Pacheco bus station (alas, not at Caravaca bus station). Because air passengers arrive in great floods at Alicante International Airport (and, moreover, because flights arriving there are delayed often) we refuse to meet helpers there, as we are unable to guarantee finding you in the throng! You must buy a ticket at a stand in Alicante airport for the fast, frequent, coach service from it to Murcia bus station where then you must go to its ticket office and buy a ticket for the cheap service buses to the bus stations at Caravaca for Session 1 or Torre Pacheco for Session 2. Once you are on a bus from Murcia to either Caravaca or Torre Pacheco, phone us so that we can meet you at those bus stations. Buses leave Murcia for Caravaca hourly between 06.10 and 21.10 hours; the journey takes about an hour. Buses leave Murcia for Torre Pacheco roughly every 2 hours from 08.30 to 20.30 hours; the journey takes about 30 minutes.

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Your contribution of 50€ (euros) per day for a complete 21-day session (1,050€ altogether) includes board, meals, instruction, local travel from pick-up point and back, daily travel between our base and site, official excursions, and your registration as a MUPANTQUAT member for the year 2023. If you come for two complete sessions your contribution is reduced to 45€ per day (1,890€ altogether). If you come for less than a complete session your contribution is 60€ per day. All former participants contribute at 45€ per day for whatever length of stay. Exceptionally, on a case-by-case basis, and provided that it does not produce numerical imbalance of helpers within a session, consideration may be given on occasions to allowing youngsters, who must justify impecunious circumstances and be first-time participants, to take part for 45€ per day (450€ altogether) during the first or second 10-day period of one session only (June30-July 9/10; July 9/10-July 21; July 21-July30/Aug1; July30/Aug1-August 11), though such participation means missing half of the 20-day programme of the session. All participants must pay for their own air/rail/coach/bus/taxi fares to our pick–up/set-down points and for their personal expenses

Daily routine: we rise at 7 a.m. and after a light breakfast we excavate from 8 a.m. till 2 p.m. with a mid-morning sandwich. A cooked lunch at 3 p.m. is followed by a nap. We sort finds from 5 p.m. till 9 p.m. when we have a hot dinner. In each 3-week period, there are talks and seminars about our work and human evolution, and we also visit local places of interest. The programme is thus based on a 3-week Session (if you stay for a shorter time you’ll miss part of the programme). The normal contribution from helpers staying for a full Session corresponds to €50 euros (€50) a day; covering instruction, board, lodging, and local transportation, or €45 a day when both full sessions are attended (first-time participants staying for less than one full session should contribute €60 a day). To guarantee a place you must send a non-returnable deposit, preferably by May 1st 2020, of €250 (euros) per each 7 days of intended stay. You pay the balance on arrival. You must arrange your own health and personal accident insurance cover beforehand, holiday/travel insurance if desired, and sign an indemnity form on arrival. EU residents should bring the EU card from their country entitling them to public health care in other EU Member States.

Some recent work about our sites (pdfs are available on request);

2022 M. J. Walker, M. Haber Uriarte, M. V. López Martínez, I. Martín Lerma, “La Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar en La Encarnción de Caravaca Cruz.” In: F.Brotons Yagüe, Coord., Caravaca inédita. Un viaje de la prehistoria hasta nuestros días. Caravaca de la Cruz, Ediciones Gollarín, pp. 79-95 (ISBN 9788412219630).
2022 A. Bermejo-Fenoll, A. Panchón-Ruiz, M. J. Walker, “Neanderthal, Sapiens and chimpanzee mandibles: a comparative study in relation to articulated speech.” Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 14:116 https://doi.org/10.1107/s12520-22-01575-s (ISSN: 1866-9565).
2022 M. J. Walker, M. Haber Uriarte, M. López Martínez, G. J. Linares Matás, N. Fernández Ruiz, “Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar: Comings and goings recorded in a late Early (Lower) Pleistocene microstratigraphical palimpsest.” L’Anthropologie 126(1):102995 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anthro.2021.102995 (ISSN 0003-5521).
2022 H.M.Manrique, K.J.Friston, M.J.Walker, ““Snakes and Ladders” in paleoanthropology: from cognitive surprise to skillfulness a million years ago.” http://PsyArxiv.com 9rkgh.
2021 G. J. Linares Matás, N. Fernández Ruiz, M. Haber Uriarte, M. López Martínez, M. J. Walker: “Hyaenas and early humans in the latest Early Pleistocene of South-Western Europe” Scientific Reports 11:24036 https://doi.org.10.1038/s41598-021-03547-7 (ISSN 2045-2322).
2021 M.J.Walker, “Nuevas perspectivas paleoantropológicas en la Región de Murcia: La Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar en Caravaca de la Cruz y la Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo en Torre Pacheco”. In: Ramos, J., Bernal, M.A., Santiago, A., Eds., De los primeros pobladores al ocaso neandertal en la Península Ibérica (“Actas de las Jornadas de Prehistoria, Jerez 5 y 6 de octubre de 2018”), special issue of Bajo Guadalquivir y Mundos Atlánticos (Universidad Pablo Olavide and Asociación Jerezana de Amigosdel Archivo; ISSN: 2605-0560).
2021: J. A. Fellows Yates, I. M. Velsko, F. Aron, C. Posth, C. A. Hofman, R. M. Austin, C. E. Parker, A. E. Mann, K. Nägel, K. W. Arthur, J. W. Arthur, C. C. Bauer, I. Crèvecoeur, C. Cupillard, M. C. Curtis, L. Dalé, M. Díaz-Zorita Bonilla, J. C. Díez Fernández-Lomana, D. G. Drucker, E. Escribano Escrivá, M. Francken, V. E. Gibbon, M. R. González Morales, A. Grande Mateu, K. Harvati, A. G. Henry, L. Humphrey, M. Menéndez, D. Mihailovic, M. Peresani, S. Rodríguez Moroder, M. Roksandic, H. Rougier, S. Sázelová, J. T. Stock, L. G. Straus, J. Svoboda, B. Teßmann, M. J. Walker, R. C. Power, C. M. Lewis, K. Sankaranarayan, K. Guschanski, R. W. Wrangham, F. E. Dewhirst, D. C. Salazar-García, J. Krause, A. Herbig, C. Warinner, 2021. The evolution and changing ecology of the African hominid oral microbiome.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 118 (20), e2021655118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas. 2021655118 (ISSN 1091-6490). (N.B. To find a reference to the Sima de las Palomas teeth that contributed to this article, because the sites are not named in it, you have to go on-line to the link to the article’s Supplementary Information: https://www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/ doi:10.1073/pnas.2021655118/-/DCSupplemental).
2020: M. J. Walker, M. Haber Uriarte, A. López Jiménez, M. López Martínez, I. Martín Lerma, J. van der Made, M. Duval, R. Grün, “Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar: a dated Late Early Pleistocene Palaeolithic site in Southeastern Spain.” Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology 3 (4), 816-855. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-020-00062-5.
2020: A. López Jiménez, M. Haber Uriarte, M. López Martínez, M. J. Walker, “Small-mammal indicators of biochronology at Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia, SE Spain)”. Historical Biology 32, 18-33 (ISSN: 08912963).
2019: J.S.Carrión, M.J.Walker,“Background to Neanderthal presence in Western Mediterranean Europe.” Quaternary Science Reviews 217: 7-44 (ISSN: 0277-3791).
2019: M.J.Walker, M.Duval, R.Grün, M.Haber-Uriarte, A.López-Jiménez, M.López-Martínez, “New chronological constraints for the Lower Palaeolithic site of Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar, Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia, Spain: Preliminary ESR dating of the late Early Pleistocene fauna.” (9th Annual Meeting of the European Society for the Study of Human Evolution ESHE Liège, Belgium, 18-23 September 2019) Proceedings of the European Society for the Study of Human Evolution 8 (PESHE 8) p. 197 (ISSN 21950776).
2019: M.J.Walker. Invited review of Cognitive Models in Palaeolithic Archaeology (T.Wynn & Frederick L.Coolidge, Eds, Oxford University Press, 2017). Journal of the. Royal Anthropological Insititute 25: 398-399 (ISSN: 1467-9655).
2019: J.S.Carrion, S.Fernandez, J.M.Jimenez-Arenas, M.Munuera, J.Ochando, G.Amorós, M.Ponce de León, C.Zollikofer, I.Martín-Lerma, I.Toro-Moyano, I.Hajdas, M.J.Walker, The sequence at Carihuela Cave and its potential for research into Neanderthal ecology and the Mousterian in southern Spain. Quaternary Science Reviews 217, 194-216 (ISSN: 0277-3791).
2018 A.López Jiménez, M. Haber Uriarte, M. López Martínez, M.J.Walker, “Small-mammal indicators of biochronology at Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia, SE Spain)”. Historical Biology doi: 10.1080/08912963.2018.1462804 (ISSN: 08912963). (This is the advance on-line edition; the print version will appear in 2019).
2018 in press. M.J.Walker. Invited short review of Cognitive Models in Palaeolithic Archaeology (edited by T. Wynn and F.L.Coolidge, Oxford University Press, December 2016). Journal of the. Royal Anthropological Insititute (ISSN: 1467-9655).
2018 R.C.Power, D.C.Salazar-García, D.C., M.Rubini, A.Darlas, K.Harvati, M.Walker, J-J.Hublin, A.G.Henry, “Dental calculus indicates widespread plant use within the stable Neanderthal dietary niche.” Journal of Human Evolution 119, 27-41 (ISSN 0047-2484).
2018 M.J. Walker, M. Haber Uriarte, M. López Martínez, J. Ortega Rodrigáñez, A. López Jiménez, A. Avilés Fernández, C. Martínez Caravaca, G. Linares Matás, H.Cano Fernández, N. Fernández Ruiz, J. García Torres, Á. López Buitrago, “Neanderthal activities between ~130 ka and ~40 ka at Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo (Torre Pacheco, Murcia, Spain)”. (60th Annual Meeting, Tarragona, 3rd-7th of April, 2018, Hugo Obermaier Society for Quaternary Research and Archaeology of the Stone Age, Hugo Obermaier-Gesellschaft für Erforschung des Eiszeitalters und der Steinzeit e.V.). In A. Maier, ed, Neanderthal Behaviour and Ecology in the Mediterranean Area April 3-April 7, 2018, in Tarragona, Hugo Obermaier-Gesellschaft für Erforschung des Eiszeitalters und der Steinzeit e.V., Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte der Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, pp. 58-60 (ISBN 9783946387121).
2017 E.Trinkaus, M.J.Walker, Eds., The People of Palomas. The Neandertals from the Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo, Southeastern Spain. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas, USA. ISBN 9781623494803.
2017 M.J.Walker, Palaeolithic Pioneers, Behaviour, Abilities, and Activity of Early Homo in European Landscapes around the Western Mediterranean Basin ~1.3-0.05 Ma
(Archaeopress, Oxford; ISBN 9781784916206. e-book ISBN 9781784916213).
2017 H.M.Manrique, M.J.Walker, Early Evolution of Human Memory: Great Apes, Tool-Making and Cognition (Palgrave-Macmillan/Springer-Nature, New York, ISBN 9783319644462, ebook
ISBN 9783319644479).
2016 M.J.Walker, D. Anesin, D.E. Angelucci, A.Avilés-Fernández, F.Berna, A.T.Buitrago-López,Y.Fernández-Jalvo, M.Haber-Uriarte, A.López-Jiménez, M.López-Martínez, I.Martín-Lerma, J.Ortega-Rodrigáñez, J.L.Polo-Camacho, S.E.Rhodes, D.Richter, T.Rodríguez-Estrella, J-LSchwenninger, A.R. Skinner, “Findings, context, and significance of combustion at the late Early Pleistocene Palaeolithic site of Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia, Spain),” Antiquity.
2016 S.E. Rhodes, M.J.Walker, A.López-Jiménez, M.López-Martínez, M.Haber-Uriarte, Y.Fernández-Jalvo, M.Chazan, Fire in the Early Palaeolithic: Evidence of small mammal burning
at Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar, Murcia, Spain, Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 9: 427-436 (ISSN 2352409X ).
2016 (en prensa). M.J.Walker (coordinator), How the Earliest Cave-Folk of South-East Spain were Dug Up: A journey full of archaeological and anthropological surprises. A book put together by the team excavating under the direction of Michael J. Walker at the sites of Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (the Black Cave of the River Quípar gorge) near Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia, Spain, and Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo (Dove Hole on Cabezo Gordo hill) near Torre Pacheco, Murcia, Spain.Oxbow Books, Oxford.
2014 M.J.Walker, M.López Martínez, M.Haber Uriarte, “The Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar: a 0.8 Ma site with human and Palaeolithic remains in SE Spain,” Popular Archaeology 15 06052014 July 2014 (e-journal).
2014 M.J.Walker, M.López Martínez, M.Haber Uriarte, “The Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo: Neanderthal burials from 50,000 years ago in SE Spain,” Popular Archaeology 15 06052014 July 2014 (e-journal).
2014 M.J.Walker, M. López Martínez, M. Haber Uriarte: “Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia, Spain),” pp. 372-379 in R. Sala Ramos, Ed., with coordinators E. Carbonell, J.M.Bermúdez de Castro and J.L.Arsuaga) Pleistocene and Holocene Hunter-Gatherers in Iberia and the Gibraltar Strait: The Current Archaeological Record. (Universidad de Burgos and Fundación Atapuerca, Burgos.ISBN 9788492681, available as e-book 9788492681884).
2014 M.J.Walker, M. López Martínez, M. Haber Uriarte: “Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo (Torre Pacheco, Murcia, Spain)”, pp. 410-413 in R. Sala Ramos, Ed., with coordinators E. Carbonell, J.M.Bermúdez de Castro and J.L.Arsuaga) Pleistocene and Holocene Hunter-Gatherers in Iberia and the Gibraltar Strait: The Current Archaeological Record. (Universidad de Burgos and Fundación Atapuerca, Burgos.ISBN 9788492681, available as e-book 9788492681884).
2013 M.J.Walker, M.V.López-Martínez, J.S.Carrión-García, T.Rodríguez-Estrella, M.San-Nicolás-del-Toro,J-L.Schwenninger, A.López-Jiménez, J.Ortega-Rodrigáñez, M.Haber-Uriarte,J-L.Polo-Camacho, J.García-Torres, M.Campillo-Boj,A.Avilés-Fernández: “Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Murcia, Spain): A late Early Pleistocenehominin site with an “Acheulo-Levalloiso-Mousteroid” Palaeolithic assemblage” Quaternary International 294: 135-159.
2013 D.Angelucci, D.Anesin, M.López-Martínez, M.Haber-Uriarte, T.Rodríguez-Estrella, M.J.Walker: Rethinking stratigraphy and site formation of the Pleistocene deposit at Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Caravaca de la Cruz, Spain). Quaternary Science Reviews 80: 195-199.
2013 W.Zack, A.Andronikov, T.Rodríguez-Estrella, M.López-Martínez, M.Haber-Uriarte, V.Holliday, D.Lauretta, M.J.Walker: “Stone procurement and transport at the late Early Pleistocene site of Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar (Murcia, SE Spain)” Quartär, International Yearbook for Ice Age and Stone Age Research vol. 60
2013 D.C.Salazar-García, R.C.Power, A.Sanchis Serra, V.Villaverde, .M.J.Walker, A.G.Henry: “Neanderthal diets in central and southeastern Mediterranean Iberia” Quaternary International 318: 3-18.
2012 M.J.Walker, M.V.López-Martínez, J.Ortega-Rodrigáñez, M.Haber-Uriarte, A.López-Jiménez, A.Avilés-Fernández, J.L-Polo Camacho, M.Campillo-Boj, J.García-Torres, J.S,Carrión-García, M.San Nicolas-del Toro, T.Rodríguez-Estrella: “The excavation of the buried articulated Neanderthal skeletons at Sima de las Palomas (Murcia, SE Spain).” Quaternary International 259: 7-21.
2011 M.J.Walker, J.Ortega, K.Parmová, M.V.López, E. Trinkaus: “Morphology, body proportions, and postcranial hypertrophy of a female Neandertal from the Sima de las Palomas, southeastern Spain” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 108 (25) 10087-10091.
2011 M.J.Walker, J.Zapata, A.V.Lombardi, E.Trinkaus, “New evidence of dental pathology in 40,000 year old Neandertals” Journal of Dental Research 90: 428-432.
2011 M.J. Walker, J.Ortega Rodrigáñez, M.V.López Martínez, K.Parmová, E.Trinkaus: “Neandertal postcranial remains from the Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo, Murcia,southeastern Spain.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 144: 505-515.
2010 M.J.Walker, A.V.Lombardi, J.Zapata, E.Trinkaus: “Neandertal mandibles from the Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo, Murcia, southeastern Spain.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 142: 261-272.
2009 M.J.Walker: “Long–term memory and Middle Pleistocene `Mysterians ́.” Pp.75-84 in S.A.de Beaune, F.L.Coolidge, T.Wynn, eds,Cognitive Archaeology And Human Evolution, New York,Cambridge University Press.
2009 G.R.Scott, L.Gibert: “The oldest hand-axes in Europe.” Nature 461: 82-85.
2008 M.J.Walker, J.Gibert, M.V.López, A.V.Lombardi, A.Pérez-Pérez, J Zapata, J.Ortega, T.Higham, A.Pike, J-L.Schwenninger, J.Zilhão, E.Trinkaus: “Late Neandertals in Southeastern Iberia: Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo, Murcia, Spain .” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 105 (52): 20631-20636

Field School Poster 2023 PDF
Briefing You 2023 PDF

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