Atapuerca fossil excavation. Researcher measuring while excavating human and animal fossils from the Galeria site in the Sierra de Atapuerca foothills near Burgos, Spain. The Atapuerca fossil sites are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, containing the earliest human remains found in Europe. The Galeria site (Trinchera Galeria) was a natural trap used as a source of dead animals for consumption. Fossils found here range from 450,000 to 170,000 years ago, and include Homo heidelbergensis (Heidelberg Man), an extinct hominin species from the same genus as modern humans. They lived around 600,000 to 400,000 years ago.