The Peña Oviedo Project

From Hunter to Farmer: Prehistoric People in Spain

Famous for the prehistoric paintings of Altamira, the caves and spectacular valleys Northern Spain still have more answers to yield about the history of the people living there in prehistoric times. Since 1989, archaeologists have been uncovering artifacts at Peña Oviedo, an isolated, ten-mile long valley that rises dramatically from near sea level to over a mile high. This area contains evidence of the important transition that occurred as their prehistoric inhabitants began to cultivate plants and to herd animals.

Agustín Diez-Castillo University of Valencia, David Cohen of UC Berkeley, Goretty Robles -Senior archaeologist and Spanish teacher at Emery High- have been excavatingmegalithic shrines and early Neolithic domestic structures. They analyze and catalog artifacts and map the sites This research will help understand the cultural interaction between hunter-gatherers and farmers in Atlantic Europe. Some of the most important Paleolithic sites in the world (like Atapuerca, or Altamira) are nearby.