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Se compendia la labor realizada hasta el presente sobre los yacimientos mesopleistocenos de Ibeas y Atapuerca y sus aportaciones científicas a la paleontologia humana y de vertebrados, otros campos de la paleontología, procesos kársticos, paleoecología, paleoclimatología, ciencias prehistóricas, y en otros aspectos relacionados con el progreso en el conocimiento de la evolución humana. Se incluyen nuevas evaluaciones, sugestiones para estudios pendientes y nueva discusión de algunos temas, como la antiguedad y factores de acumulación de los fósiles humanos, su aportación a un modelo de la evolución humana y movimiento de poblaciones en el Pleistoceno Medio, el origen y evolución del tipo neandertal; la correlación entre las series de depósitos expuestas, y la sintonía de los cambios climáticos y morfosedirnentarios inferidos con la curva isotópica del océano. Se pondera el valor de las sucesivas asociaciones faunísticas de Atapuerca como escala potencial de referencia para la bioestratigrafía y los cambios faunísticos en el Pleistoceno Medio de Europa, la posible relación de las variables ambientales con las condiciones de fosilización y el potencial de los estudios de alteración de fósiles de microvertebrados para inferencias paleoclimáticas. Se añaden algunas observaciones sobre los ritmos deposicionales y no deposicionales y cómo afectan a la calibración cronológica de la representación faunística y arqueológica, y a las hipotéticas inferencias sobre asociación de objetos líticos y restos óseos.

Es cierto que, poco despues de la puesta en marcha del proyecto inicial, comenzo una real colaboracion del Dr. J. F. de Villalta en campañas de excavacion y en estudio de materiales, y fue propuesto como subdirector para "paleontología" en el proyecto que presente en 1980. Esta colaboración no llegó a tener continuación. Villalta fue además el director de la brillante tesis doctoral de T.J. Torres Pérez-Hidalgo, sobre los osos fosiles, en la etapa final de esta. Me complace reiterar mi gratitud por el interés que Villalta tuvo por el proyecto, y por su ayuda eficaz en lo que estuvo en sus manos; quiza no lo expresé debidamente en lo que queria ser un reconocimiento al final de la nota infrapaginal aludida. Esta nota se referfa exclusivamente a la concepciòn, previsiòn y autoría del proyecto de Atapuerca que presente en 1976 y puse en marcha en 1978, y lo que sobre esto digo en el artículo contestado no queda en modo alguno afectado por estas aclaraciones. Gracias de todos modos, una vez más.

Fossiliferous Karst Deposits of Atapuerca. First 20 years of research. The conception of a multidisciplinary research project on the ancient occupants of Spain and Europe, and the ecological contexts of their evolution derived in 1976 from the incidental find of 16 human fossils in a deep pit, SH, well into the ‘Cueva Mayor’ of Sierra de Atapuerca (Ibeas de Juarros, Burgos, Spain), and after visiting several outcrops of deep, well stratified karst deposits in an abandoned railway cut, not far. The human fossils from SH were assigned to the European group of preneandertalians (Aguirre 1976; Aguirre & de Lumley, 1977), and classified as Homo sapiens heidelbergensis (Aguirre & Rosas, 1985). A ‘mosaic’ evolution was then recognized on the morphological traits of human mandibles in Middle Pleistocene, also an African origin of the pre-neandertalians, and the ancestorship of the latter relate to neandertalians. Different approaches led by 1987 to estimate the age of SH hominines c. 300/320 Ka. BP. Paleopathological and taphonomical studies allowed inferring good health overall; cultural factors were suggested for several common deficiencies. In 1990 the SH site was finally cleaned and human bones in situ exposed after removing more than 6 Tm of a mass of accumulated stones, mud and bone fragments removed by searchers of bear teeth. All that overburden washed and shifted yielded thousands of bear fossils and more then 250 human pieces of a MNI = 11. Excavation of untouched deposit between 1990 and 1999 produced more than 2 400 human fossils belonging to a MNI = 27. Studies of paleodemography are published, based on the assumption that the corpses were deposited as death occurred along time and as a behavioural pattern; present author thinks that the simultaneous death of a group taking refuge in a cave under heavy rain, and land-slide following, is more consistent with observed evidences. Two sites on the railway cut were sampled: the Gran Dolina (TD), 18.5 m deep, and Galeria (TG) with a connected vertical shaft (TN) in the ‘Complejo Tres Simas’, yielding abundant microvertebrate fossils and continuous or dicontinuous pollen record. Extension excavation started in both TD and TG sites over c. 24 m2 in each met successive horizons with mammal assemblages known in European sites of the upper third of Middle Pleistocene and evidences of human occupation. Basal beds of TD also were excavated in a talus: these yielded a paleofauna known as Upper Bhiharian, or Early Cromerian. The extreme ages obtained for TD are c. 900 and c. 150 Ka. Lithic assemblages, analysed from the operational viewpoint, belong to Mode 1 in TD6, to a particularly evolved Mode 2 in TG, to early Mode 3 in upper TD beds. Microwear traces were studied on rodent and amphibian fossils to identify consumers, and on tools in search of traces of use. Differences were found in meat consumption and on use and permanence in various cavities. A slit open cut in TD started in 1992 yielded fossil humans with abundant lithic and faunal context in upper Bed TD6 well below the B/M magnetic reversal. Presently debated interpretations are indicated, and future potentials suggested.

The abundance of early fossil humans in African sites ceases at dates around 1.3MaBP; there is almost none until nearly 0.8MaBP. Again these are scarce until less than 0.5 Ma. Most of Homo erectus fossils in Java are dated between c.1.3 and 0.70Ma; just a few fossil humans are known in Eurasia for this time span. Questions arise on eventual environmental constraints, that may have influenced evolutionary crises of human populations, but also on geographic conditions adverse to fossilization processes and/or site formation. Records on climate variables, vegetation, sea level, sedimentary conditions and tectonic behavior in regions of the Old World are collected, and correlation traced back in time slices. Continental accretion is related to end of sedimentation in African basins; repeated compressive tectonic activity negatively affected preservation of both fossils and occupation sites widely, before and immediately after the M/B reversal. Lithic artefact assemblages, although derived, are understood as evidence of human occupation in the studied interval. Human populations are exspected to be affected by environmental changes, small, and scattered. Origin of Homo sapeins and divergence of preneandertalians are driven back to those times. Ancestorship to the latter is found probably in African fossils of that time span. Modern traits found in the Atapuerca-TD6 sample and the preceeding considerations urge research on humans and their movements intra- and intercontinental around 1 MaBP.

The discovery and the study of Australopithecus sediba has brought the debate between its supporters as the only immediate ancestor of Homo erectus excluding H. habilis out of that ancestry as well as any other eventual species of genus Homo, and on the other side the defenders of Homo habilis as the direct ancestor of Homo erectus and following humans. Here the second opinion is supported, with the view that the succession between two species is not instantaneous, the new distinctive traits appearing, generally inherited in several individuals of a single living species, and tribe, coexisting with other individuals bearing primitive traits, until these disappear, even a time after the separation of the groups with different inheritance prevalent. Besides the known sites yielding lithic tools more than 2 Ma old the fossil group of Dmanissi (Rep. Georgia) is a solid proof: one of the earliest tribes of H. erectus/ergaster, leaving Africa to Eurasia near 1.8 Ma, including individuals with prevalent traits of H. habilis. The climate and environment crises between near 2.5-1.8 Ma ago with harsh aridity in Africa may have infl uenced such complexes process. In South Africa similar genetic changes may have occurred at a near time, but accompanying evidences of direct effect on the origin of H. erectus populations are still missing.

Faunal lists are presented of the successive beds, either excavated or sampled, in four different sections of the localities at Atapuerca and lbeas de Juarros, Burgos. Considerations follow on the climate and other ecological conditions which may have influenced fossil preservation and the paleofaunal composition of each bed. Correlations are considered between the different sections of Atapuerca and European local fauna. Lower beds of Gran Dolina (TD.3-6) and Penal (TP.3-7) yield abundant remains of a known faunal association lasting with little change from late Early Pleistocene (after Jaramillo) to the West-Runton Freshwater Beds (Cromer Forest Beds). The upper beds of Atapuerca in Gran Dolina (TD.10-11) and the 'Tres Simas' complex (CTS3) are correlated on the ground of their faunal assemblages with those of the mid-upper Middle Pleistocene of Europe, La Fage, Bilzingsleben, Swanscombe, Steinheim 2, Castel di Guido, Malagrotta, Ehringsdorf, which may be correlated to OIS episode 9, or 7. The intermediate beds of Gran Dolina (TD.7-8) have not yet been excavated; the excavation of the intermediate unit of the Tres Simas Complex (CTS.2) was started on/y recently, so that the present author only knows its faunal content from early sampling.It can be predicted that these assemblages, when recovered, will resemble those known from Mauer, L'Escale, Belle-Roche, Cava Pompi, Arago, Lunel-Viel, Westbury 2, which represent major faunal changes in Europe over 500 kaBP and about 400 kaBP. The fossil humans and associated remains in «Sima de los Huesos» probably correspond to that median part of the Middle Pleistocene. Additional considerations deal with ecological factors that may have influenced the European faunal associations over that time span, with archaeological remains related lo them. Changes are shown, and questions posed for future research., Se presentan listas paleofaunísticas provisionales de cortes distintos en las localidades de Atapuerca e Ibeas de Juarros (Burgos). Los niveles inferiores de Gran Dolina (TD.3-6) contienen constantes restos de la asociación faunística conocida desde el final del Pleistoceno Inferior (post-Jaramillo) hasta las Freshwater Beds de West Runton (Cromer). Las capas superiores en Gran Dolina (TD.1O-11) y en el complejo Tres Simas (CTS.3) se correlacionan por sus conjuntos faunísticos con los de Europa del Pleistoceno Medio medio-alto, como La Fage, Swanscombe, Steinheim 2, Bilzingsleben, Castel di Guido (c.300 kaBP), Ehringsdorf. Los fósiles humanos y restos asociados de Ursus deningeri en «Sima de los Huesos" corresponden con toda probabilidad a una parte mediana del Pleistoceno Medio. Se comentan las asociaciones de vestigios arqueológicos con éstos y otros conjuntos faunísticos y las cuestiones que de ello derivan sobre la evolución de las poblaciones humanas en Europa.

Accurate individual well production rates are essential to meet corporate production target plans, optimize reservoir performance and make reservoir management decisions that may require well intervention. Short of installing rate measurement devices on each well, a "back allocation" method is generally employed to assign well production rates, using multiplying factors based on well tests conducted the month before. Apart from the inherent errors, based on the assumption that the wells produce at the same rate throughout the month, the process is also not suited for real-time field management that requires production rates to be known much more frequently. This paper describes the implementation of a system that automates the calculation of individual well production rates using real-time pressure data from permanent sensors installed on the wells. The system, based on integrated physical models of the reservoir, well and surface network, has been successfully used to implement crude blend management in a large Saudi Arabian field, producing from three different reservoirs. The paper also describes how the system is used to automate the validation of well test measurements, allowing the engineers to focus their time on problem wells while ensuring that all wells are reviewed. In addition, field models are kept evergreen and can be utilized by different disciplines for production forecasts. Application of the system could result in significant cost savings, due to reduction in the requirements for physical metering of well production. The system also provides unique optimization opportunities, allowing the engineer to determine the optimum settings to maximize production or revenue. Other benefits include, faster resolution of production problems due to early problem detection, focus on exceptions rather than bulk and massive troubleshooting, and zero-latency application-assisted decision making, all combining to bring real-time field management and optimization to the engineer's desktop.

La division final del Mioceno, piso «Messiniense» -entre 6,5/6,6 Ma y 5,3 Ma-, presento problema para su redefinicion y la interpretacion de sus secuencias estratigraficas en la decada de 1960. Fue objeto de estudios profundos y diversos en el marco de programas de la Comision Internacional de Estratigrafia (ICS) y del Programa Internacional de Correlacion Geologica en las decadas siguientes. Numerosos yacimientos de mamiferos fosiles en Espana y otras regiones con importantes novedades, entre ellas diversos intercambios intercontinentales, en el mismo intervalo cronologico anaden cuestiones de interes ademas de obligar a la correlacion entre la estratigrafia basada en series marinas y la biostratigrafia continental. A las singularidades de estas series se anade el descubrimiento reciente de hominidos fosiles con indicios de bipedia en edades comprendidas en este intervalo. En el mismo se han datado graves eventos paleogeograficos, geodinamicos, paleoambientales y paleoclimaticos, que empezaron a investigarse hace 40 anos como la «Crisis de Salinidad del Mediterraneo», y sobre cuyo desarrollo e interacciones se han publicado diversos modelos mas o menos incompletos: aislamiento del mediterraneo, descenso global del nivel del mar, acrecion continental y orogenia, glaciacion, deterioro de la cubierta vegetal. Una interpretacion de la secuencia de eventos en estos diversos campos de estudio de Historia de la Tierra y de la Vida, y sus interacciones, puede trazarse con una calibracion del orden de los cien mil anos. [ABSTRACT] The «Messinian» is the last stratigraphic stage of the Miocene, lasting between 6.6/6.5 and 5.3 MaBP. Its redefinition and stratotype designation were problematic in the 1960s, in the frame of the IUGS International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) revision works and the Project no.25 of the International Geological Correlation Program (IGCP) in the following decades. The interpretation of the regional Mediterranean stratigraphic sequence was debated. Many fossil mammal sites in Spain and other peri-Tethic regions, showing relevant events and intercontinental exchanges within that time span, add pressing questions to the essential need of correlating the continental biostratigraphic divisions to the marine based stratigraphic scale. Recent discovery of fossil hominids with early evidence of bipedal adaptation in East-and Central Africa with referred ages of nearly 6 MaBP, or more, makes the study of that age still more exciting. In the same time span, major palaeogeographic, geodynamic, palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental events have been dated, that started been investigated 40 years ago also in connection to the late Miocene Mediterranean «Salinity Crisis»: isolation from the Atlantic Ocean, global sea level lowering, continental accretion and orogeny, glaciation and vegetal cover deterioration. Several models of sequenced interactions have been proposed. A comprehensive scenario is here attempted of these major events in the History of Earth and History of Life, with a calibration of nearly hundred thousand years.

Se presenta un primer analisis e inventario de la coleccion de fosiles humanos descubiertos en el sistema karstico del Sidron (Pilona, Ladanes, Asturias). Se trata de una importante muestra de mas de 120 restos, pertenecientes a un numero minimo de 3 individuos y representacion de todas las partes del esqueleto. Destacan como elementos mas informativos 2 mandibulas, en buen estado de conservacion, aunque no completas. En la actualidad se desconoce el contexto estratigrafico y cronologico preciso de la muestra, ya que los fosiles fueron extraidos sin metodo. Se sabe que los restos proceden de una galeria lateral del sistema, en un lugar proximo a la «Galeria Principal», y no lejos del «Pasu Salomon». La comparacion morfologica y metrica aqui presentada (analisis uni-,bi- y multivariantes: PCA y Analisis Discriminante) permite, sin ambiguedad alguna, asignar los restos humanos del Sidron a Horno neanderthalensis, presentando un elevado numero de caracteres morfologicos y metricos exclusivos de este grupo humano. Los mencionados analisis revelan, ademas, cierta similitud de las mandibulas del Sidron con restos cronologicamente adscritos al ultimo interglacial (Krapina), asi como similitudes con otros fosiles del Pleistoceno Medio europeo. Estas similitudes metricas y morfologicas pueden contener una importante informacion para esclarecer el contexto crono-evolutivo de la muestra. [ABSTRACT] We present here a new and uncommon finding of a large sample of Neanderthal remains. Over 120 fossil human remains have been found at the Sidron Cave, Asturias, Northem Spain. AH the skeletal parts are represented, including two weH preserved mandibles. A minimum number of three individuals have been identified on the basis of humerus remains. For classification purposes, we have compared Sidron lower jaws with an extensive sample of Horno mandibles, making especial emphasis in Neanderthals and Middle Pleistocene specimens, as weH as those from European Upper Palaeolithic and recent populations. A large number of apomorphies of the European evolutionary lineage have been identified, and morphological and metrical traits aHow to assign the Sidron remains to Horno neanderthalensis. Bivariate and multivariate analysis unambiguously locate the Sidron specimens within the range of Neanderthals, and outside the Upper Palaeolithic mandibles range. The development of a large mid-facial prognatism characterises the evolution of the European lineage, a process in which the mandible is profoundly involved. Several distances between landmarks of the mandible record this pattem, particularly those relating the last molar (M3) to the mental foramen and to the mandibular foramen, among others. In aH of these variables, Sidron mandibles show consistently values like those of the Neanderthal, and clearly distinct from those of late Upper Pleistocene age. A similar arrangement is found when, up to a maximum of 15 distances are included in multivariate analysis. Moreover, the Sidron mandibles display a certain resemblance to samples from the last interglacial period (e.g. Krapina), and even to the Atapuerca-SH specimens, both in shape features and bone structure.

The Atapuerca railway Trench and Ibeas sites near Burgos, Spain, are cave fillings that include a series of deposits, ranging from below the Matuyama/Bruhnes reversal up to the end of Middle Pleistocene. The lowest fossil-bearing bed in the Trench contains an assemblage of large and small Mammals including Mimomys savini, Pitymys gregaloides, Pliomys episcopalis, Crocuta crocuta, Dama sp, and Megacerini; the uppermost assemblage includes Canis lupus, Lynx spelaea, Panthera (Leo) fossilis, Felis sylvestris, Equus caballus steinheimensis, E. c. germanicus, Pitymys subterraneus. Microtus arvalis agrestis, Pliomys lenki, and also Panthera toscana, Dicerorhinus hemitoecbus, Bison schoetensacki, which are equally present in the lowest level. The biostratigraphic correlation and dates of the sites are briefly discussed, as are the paleoclimatic interpretation of the Trench sequences. Stone artifacts are found in several layers; the earliest occurrences correspond to the upper beds containing Mimomys savini. A set of preserved human occupation floors has been excavated in the top fossil-bearing beds. The stone-tool assemblages of the upper levels are of upper-medial Acheulean to Charentian tradition. The rich bone breccia SH, in the Cueva Mayor-Cueva del Silo, Ibeas de Juarros, is a derived deposit, due to a mud flow that dispersed and carried the skeletons of many carnivores and humans. The taxa represented are, Ursus deningeri (largely dominant), Panthera (Leo) fossilis, Vulpes vulpes, Homo sapiens var. Several traits of both mandibular and cranial remains are summarized. Preliminary attempts at dating suggest that the Ibeas fossil man, is older than the Last Interglacial, or Oxygen-isotope stage 5., RESUMEN: La Trinchera del ferrocarril de Atapuerca y yacimientos de Ibeas cerca de Burgos, España, son rellenos de cuevas que incluyen una serie de depósitos, que datan desde por debajo de la inversión Matuyama/Bruhnes hasta el final del Pleistoceno Medio. El nivel fosilífero de la Trinchera contiene un conjunto de grandes y pequeños Mamíferos incluyendo Mimomys savini, Pitymys gregaloides, Pliomys episcopalis, Crocuta Crocuta, Dama sp. y Megacerini; el conjunto más superior incluye Canis lupus, Lynx spelaea, Panthera (Leo) fossilis, Felis sylvestris, Equus caballus steinheimensis, E. c. germanicus, Pitymys subterraneus, Microtus arvalis agrestis, Pliomys lenki y también Panthera toscana, Dicerorhinus hemitoechus, Bison schoetensacki, que están igualmente presentes en el nivel más inferior. La correlación bioestratigráfica y las edades de los yacimientos se discuten brevemente, al igual que la interpretación paleoclimática de las secuencias de Trinchera. Los artefactos de piedra se encuentran en varios niveles, las primeras apariciones corresponden a los niveles superiores que contienen Mimomys savini. Se ha excavado un conjunto de suelos que preservan ocupación humana en la parte superior de los niveles fosilíferos. Los conjuntos de herramientas de piedra de los niveles superiores son del Achelense superior-medio a la tradición Charentiense. La rica brecha fosilífera SH, en la Cueva Mayor-Cueva del Silo, Ibeas de Juarros, es un depósito derivado, debido a un flujo de lodo que dispersó y transportó los esqueletos de muchos carnívoros y humanos. Los taxones representados son, Ursus deningeri (muy predominante), Panthera (Leo) fossilis, Vulpes vulpes, Homo sapiens var. Se resumen los rasgos de los restos mandibulares y craneales. Los intentos preliminares de datación sugieren que el hombre fósil de Ibeas, es más antiguo que el último Interglacial, o estadio de oxígeno isotópico 5.

The Messinian salinity crisis in the Mediterranean Basin, which resulted in a paleontological and stratigraphical hiatus between the Lyellian Miocene and Pliocene faunal sequences, has a relatively brief history (∼1.5 m.y.) coincident with upper Zone N17 planktonic microfauna and within calcareous nannoplankton Zones NN11 and NN12. In the Andalusian Stage stratotype, located in the Atlantic-connected Guadalquivir Basin of southwestern Spain, paleobathymetric analysis of benthonic foraminifera indicates a marked reduction in water level, from ca. 70–100 m to ca. 30 m, in uppermost N17 levels, and a return to former water depths coincidentally with the beginning of the Pliocene (Zone N18 microfauna) which is calibrated tot = 5 Ma. An apparently simultaneous regression is evident in upper Zone N17 levels of the Neogene basins of southeastern Spain studied by C.Montenat, and alkaline volcanics at Barqueros (Murcia) within the N17 sequence have K-Ar ages indicating that the regression began less than 6.5 Ma. The Spanish regression is clearly linked with the Messinian salinity crisis, and it can also be biochronologically correlated to a period of marked eustatic lowering and refrigeration recorded in Kapitean strata of New Zealand and thereby to a great, perhaps maximum temporary expansion of grounded ice on the Antarctic continental shelf. It is clear nevertheless that no eustatic sea-level change of even this magnitude could have isolated the Mediterranean Basin unless it had already been nearly isolated by tectonism. Therefore two stages in Messinian history are envisioned following Ruggieri: (1) An initial deep-water phase marked by refluxive concentration controlled by a tectonically elevated sill, during which evaporites and associated sediments accumulated in marginal sea level areas and in great saline bodies in the depths of the basin; this event lasted about 1 m.y. and spanned the interval between 6.5 and 5.5 Ma. (2) A terminal phase of total isolation caused by eustatic lowering of the world sea level, during which erosion and desiccation features were developed which fit the “deep-basin, shallow-water” model of Hsu¨, Cita and Ryan. This second phase spanned the interval approximately between 5.5–5.0 Ma.

This paper reviews the patterns of sexual dimorphism in the living higher primates and suggests criteria for sex determination in the australopithecines. Using the bimodal distribution for australopithecine canine breadths, sex determination for individual specimens is attempted. The pattern of sexual dimorphism in the australopithecines differs from that in other higher primates: posterior-tooth dimorphism, mandibular-corpus dimorphism, and probably, therefore, body-size dimorphism are at the extreme of the higher-primate range, while canine dimorphism is considerably less than in most living primates, although greater than in living humans. It is suggested that the primary cause of the difference between hominid and pongid trends in the evolution of sexual dimorphism is the increasing importance of tools as a supplement and replacement for the canines in hominid evolution.

The study of two mandibular remains—a complete mandibular body and two fragments of a second jaw—plus several isolated teeth found in Cueva Mayor, near Burgos, Spain, in 1976, shows that these correspond to a group of fossil men, who lived in Europe during the Middle Pleistocene and to which we refer as “anteneandertalians”: the fossil mandibles from L'Arago, France and that from Mauer, W. Germany, are the closest and quite similar to the new fossil men from Atapuerca. In authors' opinion, these European antenean-dertalinas are closer related to the fossil men from the Middle Pleistocene of North Africa (Palikao, Casablanca, Rabat) than to the Peking man. The extension of the taxon Homo erectus, which relates to the inclusion of either of the mentioned fossil groups, is questioned. These three groups of fossil men in the Middle Pleistocene—the Far East, the Mohgreb and Europe—are characterised by common and distinctive traits and trends in several mandibular and dental features.

Une description sommaire de la mandibule gauche d'un jeune individu de Paradolichopithecus (Cercopithecine), trouvee en 1974 au gisement de La Puebla de Valverde ( Aguirre y Soto, 1974 ), est suivie d'une mise a jour des donnees fossiles de Cercopithecoidea dans la sequence revisee des faunes mammaliennes du Neogene superieur europeen, d'apres les citations de Delson (1974) et l'echelle biostratigraphique mammalienne precisee ( Mein, 1975 ).

Los restos cuyo estudio nos ocupa, han sido extraídos en la denominada «Sima de los Huesos» en la Cueva Mayor, situada en la Sierra de Atapuerca, en las cercanías del pueblo de Ibeas de Juarros, a 14 km. de Burgos, en la margen derecha del río Arlanzón. La Sierra de Atapuerca puede definirse geológicamente como un anticlinal de calizas y margas del cretácico superior, rodeado por terrenos neógenos que se apoyan con una fuerte discordancia angular.

Interdisciplinary study of a Paleolithic site at Budino, Louro Valley (province of Pontevedra), Spain, shows the presence of various tool-making techniques and types of tools in a single undisturbed site complex found in situ within Middle Wurm colluvial deposits.