(Zaragoza, Friday, January 10, 2024) – For over three decades, the University of Zaragoza has been studying the climatic and landscape changes of hominins, including ancient ancestors like Heidelbergensis, Neanderthals, hunter-gatherer humans, the first farmers, the first herders, and modern humans who inhabited the Iberian Peninsula from about 1.5 million years ago to the present day.
On Tuesday, January 14, 2025, at 7:00 PM, the Pilar Sinués Hall at the Paraninfo of the University of Zaragoza will host the lecture “The First European at the University of Zaragoza: From Atapuerca to the Pyrenees”, delivered by Gloria Cuenca Bescós, Professor of Paleontology and researcher with the Aragosaurus-IUCA group. This event, organized in collaboration with the Natural Science Museum of the University of Zaragoza, is part of the “Stories of the Earth” lecture series, hosted by the University Institute of Environmental Sciences (IUCA) during the 2024/2025 academic year.
In this lecture, Gloria Cuenca will present findings from her extensive research career, narrating how humans, during prehistory and beyond, discovered and colonized the Iberian Peninsula. She will explore their innovations, the development of language and technology, their approach to nutrition and group health, and, more broadly, their social structure and relationships with the land. From Andalusia to the Castilian regions, from Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country to Aragon and Catalonia, this history reflects the evolution of human interaction with the Iberian landscape. While modern Spain bears little resemblance to the prehistoric environments of those ancient populations, the current challenges posed by climate change may find solutions by understanding the past.
The “Stories of the Earth” lecture series is included in this academic year’s complementary academic activities for credit recognition (0.5 ECTS) for University of Zaragoza students. To earn credit, students must attend at least seven sessions scheduled throughout the year. Attendance will be certified at each event, and reservations can be made through the Unizar Events platform.
About Gloria Cuenca Bescós
Gloria Cuenca Bescós is a Professor of Geology specializing in Paleontology at the University of Zaragoza. Her research includes nearly 300 publications in scientific journals. Her work within the Aragosaurus and Atapuerca research teams has earned her numerous accolades, including the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research (1997), the Castilla y León Scientific Research Award (1997), the Royal Academy of Sciences of Zaragoza Award (1997), the Aragonia Award (2012), and the Medal of the Aragonese Parliament (2018).
Gloria’s career also includes extensive university management, as she has served as Vice-Rector for Knowledge Transfer and Technological Innovation at the University of Zaragoza since 2021. She was also the Director of the University Institute of Environmental Sciences (IUCA) from 2017 to 2021.
Atapuerca has been central to Gloria’s research endeavors, with nearly two-thirds of the doctoral theses she has supervised focusing on the Burgos sites. The discovery of the “first European” was made during excavations led by the Aragonese team in 2007 at the Arlanzón laboratory, where University of Zaragoza researchers continue their studies under Gloria Cuenca’s direction.