Spanish dig in the Atapuerca caves seeks prehistoric ancestors of Europeans

With trowels and paintbrushes, dozens of archaeologists in white hard-hats patiently sift the reddish-brown earth in the caves of Atapuerca, searching for remains a million years old.

Workers carry out an excavation at the Gran Dolonia site in the caves of Atapuerca on July 11, 2013. With trowels and paintbrushes, dozens of archaeologists in white hard-hats patiently sift the reddish-brown earth, searching for remains a million years old [Credit: Cesar Manso/AFP]

From under strata spanning hundreds of millenia at this site in northern Spain, they unearth ancient mouse bones and the teeth of horses -- but what they most hope for is a sign of prehistoric humans that could write a new chapter in our evolution.

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