An international team led by Davinia Moreno, a researcher at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), has obtained the first direct dates for fossil teeth recovered from level TE19 at the Sima del Elefante site in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain)) by combining Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) and Uranium Series (U-series) dating to determine their age. The findings, published in the journal L’Anthropologie, refine the chronology of this part of the stratigraphic sequence and provide new information about the processes that formed the site.

For the first time, the study directly dates fossil teeth from this level using the combined U-series/ESR approach, a method particularly well suited to establishing the age of Pleistocene dental remains. The aim was to improve the chronological framework for level TE19, which until now had been based mainly on luminescence dates placing its formation between approximately 266,000 and 237,000 years ago.

The new ages are broadly consistent with previous estimates, strengthening the chronological framework established for the upper part of Sima del Elefante. However, discrepancies between certain samples reveal the stratigraphic and spatial complexity of level TE19, where different areas of the sedimentary infill may record separate episodes of deposition. This information offers new insights into how the site formed and evolved.

“The significance of this work lies not only in obtaining new ages, but also in gaining a clearer understanding of how this archaeological level formed. Combining different dating methods enables us to compare independent results while identifying geological processes that are essential for correctly interpreting the context in which the fossils and archaeological evidence were preserved,” explains Davinia Moreno.

Reliable chronologies are essential for interpreting how archaeological sites evolved and placing archaeological and paleontological discoveries within their correct temporal context. “Each new date helps us reconstruct the history of human occupation in the Sierra de Atapuerca with greater precision and provides a firmer basis for future research,” says Moreno.
The findings underscore the importance of combining different geochronological methods to improve our understanding of Pleistocene sites. They also reinforce the role of the CENIEH as an international reference Centre for the development and application of dating methodologies in human evolution research.

Researchers from the CENIEH, Rovira i Virgili University (URV), the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES-CERCA), the Complutense University of Madrid, the UCM-ISCIII Joint Centre for Human Evolution and Behaviour, the University of Burgos, and other national and international institutions affiliated with the Atapuerca Project participated in the study.


Moreno, D., Rodríguez-Álvarez, X. P., Falguères, C., Bahain, J.-J., Duval, M., Tombret, O., Trompier, F., Ortega Martínez, A. I., Pérez-Martínez, R., Rosas, A., Saladié, P., Mielgo, C., Vallverdú, J., & Huguet, R. (2026). Sima del Elefante (Atapuerca, Spain): New late Middle Pleistocene dates for the uppermost stratigraphic unit of a key site in European human evolution. *L’Anthropologie, 130*(3), 103505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103505


Davinia Moreno at level TE19 of the Sima del Elefante site in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain)/UCC+I CENIEH