The Atapuerca Memory is preserved in a unique building constructed on a site that retains traditional architecture. Originally, the limestone structure was used to shelter sheep, and today it houses the Emiliano Aguirre Research Center (CIEA). It was inaugurated on December 10, 2024, by Her Majesty Queen Sofía, honorary president of the Atapuerca Foundation, on the occasion of the organization’s 25th anniversary.
The CIEA became a reality thanks to co-funding from the Regional Government of Castile and León and the Board of Trustees of the Atapuerca Foundation.
It brings together, catalogues, preserves, and disseminates the Atapuerca Memory, made up of a documentary collection spanning more than fifty years. Its aim is to guarantee public access to the library and the scientific archive, as well as to facilitate the study of the documentation by researchers at the local, national, and international levels.
On December 10, 2024, Queen Sofía inaugurated the Emiliano Aguirre Research Center. Photo: Susana Santamaría / Atapuerca Foundation
In addition to housing the archive and the Gonzalo Santonja Library, the CIEA also contains the Queen Sofía Laboratory, equipped thanks to the collaboration of the Queen Sofía Foundation, as well as spaces for research. This Center is conceived as a space open to society, where the bibliographic collection, scientific journals, and scientific articles related to Quaternary research and the findings at the Atapuerca mountain range sites can be consulted in physical format. The scientific archive is currently being catalogued and will be accessible online.
The Atapuerca Foundation organized three Open Days at the CIEA to introduce the archive and library to the local population on March 15 and on April 5 and 26, 2025.