There is a town in northern Spain called Burgos that you probably
haven’t heard of. It is another
stop on the Way of St. James pilgrimage and its cathedral is a UNESCO World
Heritage Site. The Spanish hero,
El Cid, was stationed and is buried in Burgos, interestingly enough, along with
his horse. The citizens of Burgos
are proud of their history. They
celebrated their candidacy for Cultural Center of Europe with a citywide
extravaganza on Saturday that lasted until dawn. La Noche Blanca had more than 100 events, including music,
dance, crafts, aerial ballet and fireworks.
But the history of Burgos goes back even farther. In the nearby Sierra Atapuerca karst
formation archeologists have been studying early human civilizations and
unearthed the most complete skull of Homo
heidelbergensis. Then in 1993
they discovered a new species, Homo
antecessor. This “explorer
man” is believed to be in the direct evolutionary line with humans and settled
in Europe more than million years ago.
Atapuerca can now boast of continuous habitation for 1.3 million years.
The Museum of Human Evolution is less than one year old and is a
wonderful place to trace our human history. The displays concerning the discovery of H. antecessor are especially well done
and provide a good introduction to the techniques used modern archeology and
paleontology. For a few euros more
the admission includes a bus trip to one of the sites in Sierra Atapuerca. It was raining when we went to the site. Our guide spoke only rapid fire Spanish, too fast even for the Spaniards, but it was still worthwhile if you are
interested in paleontology.
Burgos is worth a stop whether you are on a pilgrimage or just traveling through northern Spain. After all, people have been stopping here for 1.3 million years!
