Portal de Cartagena
www.portaldecartagena.com
The Enrique Escudero de Castro Municipal Archaeological Museum of Cartagena has inaugurated this afternoon a paleontological exhibition based on the site of Cueva Victoria.
The exhibition was presented by the Mayor, José López, accompanied by the Director General of Cultural Heritage, Maria Comas, the Councilor for Archaeological Heritage, Ricardo Segado, the municipal coordinator of Heritage, Carmen Berroccal, and curator Gregorio Rosemary.
This exhibition, organized by the Department of Culture of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia and the Archaeological Museum, hosts a hundred pieces that summarizes the history of this cave of San Ginés Hill of the Jara of Cartagena.
In it, visitors will find a selection of fossils found in the site during the last decades, with which more than 90 species of vertebrates have been identified, of an antiquity of around 900,000 years, that make Cueva Victoria, recognized as geosite of the Geological heritage of international interest, in a key place for the reconstruction of the fauna of the lower Pleistocene.
With a unique paleontological, paleoanthropological and mining geological history, Cueva Victoria, is a karst deposit that, in the lower Pleistocene was a den of hyenas.
Its value lies in the appearance of abundant fauna, in the presence of human remains and of Theropithecus of oswaldi, an African baboon.
The human remains, few but eloquent, predate those of Atapuerca and perhaps belong to the first humans who crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to colonize Europe.
The mining history of Cueva Victoria also reveals traces of courage and suffering of the miners who worked in distressed conditions altering the natural environment of the cavity with works of indisputable interest.
Large blocks transformed by miners, tunnels and artificial galleries, aeration wells and small constructions still visible from the deepest cavities are relics of an activity that is part of the closest historical heritage with a human content that the It ennobles
José López has highlighted "the great paleontological wealth that this deposit offers us", emphasizing the pride that supposes for the Cartagenaists the fact that the findings of Cueva Victoria "allow to explain the dispersion of the first hominids that arrived at Europe from Africa through Of the Strait of Gibraltar ".
The first mayor has said that "the City Council, firmly driving the recovery and enhancement of the cultural heritage of our municipality, strongly supports the recovery of this important paleontological heritage, next to the Monastery of San Ginés de la Jara and the hermitages of the Monte Miral, form one of the most important and monumental heritage complexes of Cartagena ".
In this sense, added López, "for the next year, we have contacted Professor Luis Gibert and we are studying how to consolidate access to the cave that opened the miners in the late nineteenth century in their search for iron and manganese, With the intention of allowing a visit of the general public to the interior of this magnificent deposit ".
Finally, he added that "to complete this activity we will soon prepare a series of restricted visits to the same cave, a restricted area and expert staff, which we will publicize at the time."
Victoria Cave.
Out of Africa ', can be visited until February 15, from Tuesday to Friday (10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.) and Saturdays and Sundays (11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. hours).
CARMEN BERROCAL NEW DIRECTOR OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL
Mayor Jose López also announced during the inauguration the assumption of the functions as director of the Municipal Archaeological Museum, by Carmen Berrocal, who adds to his current responsibilities as Heritage coordinator.
This position was vacant since the march of the former head, Maria Comas. Among the objectives of Berrocal is to relaunch the activity of the museum, with new activities.
The most immediate will be the inauguration at Christmas of a new illumination of the paleo-Christian necropolis.
Source: Ayuntamiento de Cartagena
Privacy policy
- Legal notice
- Cookies