Cueva del Mirador

Cueva del Mirador (Lookout Cave) is part of the Cueva Mayor Complex. Digging began here in 1999. The mouth faces the Sierra de la Demanda and, just like the Holocene groups who used it, today's visitors peering out from the entrance have a privileged vantagepoint overlooking the narrowest point in the Arlanzón Valley between the Atapuerca Hills and the moorland. Mirador is a 23 metre wide by 15 metre deep cavity. Work is proceeding on small 6 square metre dig which has been taken down 10 metres to date.

The first thing done at this site was to clear the surface of modern and medieval remnants found scattered and jumbled up together, and also set up the basic infrastructure to begin work. Bronze Age, Neolithic and Upper Palaeolithic populations have been documented in Cueva del Mirador, a chronological period between 3,000 and 12,000 years. The cave was used to stable goats and sheep, supplemented with pigs, cattle and horses that probably grazed not far from the entrance.

The material being dug up is ash from burned animal dung and straw, along with stone tools including the odd sickle point which, considered in conjunction with remains of burned cereal grains, clearly point to agricultural activity. Bowl shards, globular pots and ceramic vessels have also been unearthed. Another noteworthy find is an axe with roughly regular edges, made from molten copper and tin. We thus know that these people were farmers who had not given up hunting (remains of wild boar, deer and rabbit have been found) or gathering.