First published: 22/06/16.

Clyde 3.0

Atapuerca

Atapuerca (Inscribed)

Atapuerca by Clyde

I visited this WHS in May 2016. Any foreignor who visits this WHS won't visit by chance. You have to make an effort to understand which site is a general museum on archaeology (CAREX), which site is a visitor centre on Atapuerca but contains none of the remains which give this site its OUV (CAYAC - from where all tours to the yacimientos depart), whether or not you want to physically visit the core zone of this WHS to experience a real archaeological excavation site and an interesting lecture in Spanish together with some information boards in English, or whether to visit the Museo de la Evolución Humana in Burgos to see the most important finds from the yacimientos of Atapuerca. I decided to do all of the above since I actually slept in Atapuerca while doing the Camino Frances and I spent 3 nights in Burgos, so I had enough time. Before arriving by walk in Atapuerca, I noticed that there was a 3km walking trail just before entering the town, opposite the unofficial UNESCO WHS pointing to the CAREX museum. I didn't mind a 3km detour especially since I'm also fond of birdwatching so I walked all the way to the Mirador above the Yacimientos de Atapuerca. This is not advertised anywhere, probably to earn more money through the organised tours as well as reducing the amount of people walking along the narrow one lane bumpy road leading to the yacimientos, which is also used by the coaches transporting people from the CAYAC visitor centre to the Yacimientos. This way you could actually visit the core zone and see the excavation sites (and scaffolding!) of Atapuerca from a distance. Recently however, not only the scaffolding is covered by a temporary roof but the whole railway cutting, meaning that most probably you'll always see the excavation sites in the shade. Unless you bring along a pair of binoculars, in my opinion from here you won't be able to appreciate the minor details and geology which are explained well on the information boards placed below but at least it's free, it's quicker and you'll skip the tour in Spanish. You can also visit by car and park next to the security guard but I wouldn't suggest it because of the road conditions. I wasn't at all satisfied with this quick visit so I called CAYAC by phone and booked myself a tour to the Yacimientos departing from the Museo de la Evolucion Humana in Burgos. This included transport, the tour to the Yacimientos and entrance to the CAREX museum in Atapuerca for 10 euros. You can also opt to visit the museum in Burgos + the tour to the Yacimientos only. Everything is closed on Mondays so keep it in mind. I also paid 4 euros to visit the excellent museum in Burgos and since I was the first visitor at 10am, I could easily take photos (usually there are people on guard to avoid this for commercial reasons) of the remains from Atapuerca which are truly of OUV for their archaeological importance. The most important remains are the bones of the Homo heidelbergensis (picture) which were found in the Bones pit in Atapuerca. There is one whole floor dedicated to Atapuerca and the top floor has an interesting permanent exhibition with very realistic 3D figures which show how our ancestors looked like as well as replicas of the most important hominid finds discovered worldwide. Moreover there was a very interesting exhibition on the most important prehistoric art found worldwide (most are UNESCO WHS). At around 11:30 a bus transported us to the CAYAC where several others joined our group (the minimum number per visit is set to 20 people; the majority of the visitors were Spaniards). The young qualified guides are university students/laureates who studied archaeology in depth and some have also participated in the archaeological excavations in Atapuerca. Even though my Spanish is limited I could follow the gist what was being said and why Atapuerca's geology is so important. It's a real pity that tours in English aren't organised but at least there are information boards in English next to the 3 mains sites of the yacimientos. The only odd thing about the tour is that after the visit in the yacimientos, you are left in Ibeas de Juarros where there's nothing to do except have lunch from one of the two restaurants in town. Luckily I made friends with other visitors and we had lunch together but it would make much more sense to have the possibility to go back to Burgos or straight to the CAREX museum. After lunch, our next stop was the CAREX museum which is quite interesting (although mostly geared to entertain children and school outings) to have a general overview but it has nothing to do with the WHS or its OUV. After being transported back to the museum in Burgos, I spent a couple of hours wandering around the museum as the ticket is valid for the whole day. All in all, I'm glad I visited every single site/museum to have a holistic picture of Atapuerca as a WHS but if you're pressed for time, go for the Yacimientos + the museum in Burgos.

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