Cueva Victoria is a paleontological site in Cartagena. Once a den for hyenas during the Lower Pleistocene, this karstic site holds an array of fossils. Josep Gibert i Clols excavated the site, discovering the fossilized remains of numerous fauna such as Hippopotamus antiquus, Canis etruscus, Mammuthus meridionalis, Equus granatensis, Stephanorhinus etruscus, Homotherium crenatidens, Megantereon, Pachycrocuta brevirostris, and Theropithecus oswaldi, an African cercopitecid.
The most significant finds in Cueva Victoria are small fossils that Professor Gibert identified as human remains, dating them to 1,200,000 years ago. These are contemporary to the Orce man from the Venta Micena paleontological site in the province of Granada.
This hypothesis was contested among paleontologists and remains a subject of intense debate. The humanity of these remains, like those from Venta Micena, has not yet been globally accepted by the scientific community. If confirmed as human, the fossils from Cueva Victoria and Venta Micena would probably correspond to Homo erectus.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nicolo Ciampini
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