Educational visits to know more about the Museum
If you like visiting museums on your own, with flexibility, we have the perfect solution for you to be able to do just that while learning more about some of the most noteworthy aspects of mankind's evolutionary process.
Every half an hour, and in different points throughout the Human Evolution Museum, we provide educational explanations of about 15 minutes in length to help our visitors experience the real, original fossils of the most well-known digs in the Atapuerca Mountains. In these brief but informative chats, you can learn how our ancestors lived, what they ate, and just how important the discovery of fire was for them.
In total we offer four different "mini-explanations" (one located on each floor of the Museum) which will teach you about human evolution and the archaeological site located in the Atapuerca Mountains. These talks are 100% free, they don't require a reservation, and they are always announced over the PA system just before starting. In this way, you can stop by the talks that are most interesting for you and thus compliment your visit to the Museum.
All temporary exhibits also have their own "mini-explanations;" however, it is necessary to make a reservation to attend these special talks. The schedule for these special talks is available in the Museum Reception Hall, along with general information about temporary exhibits.
11:00 am and 5:00 pm
In addition to the well-known Elephant Cave, Bone Pit, and Gran Dolina Sites, other important archaeological digs are being conducted at Atapuerca, many of which are more recent in history and help to complement our study of human evolution from the early days to the present.
In this "mini-explanation" you will learn how the Neanderthals of the Atapuerca Mountains lived in sites like Hundidero, Hotel California, or the Statue Gallery. You will also see exactly what the first groups of farmers and herders who occupied the Mirador and Portalón Caves about 7,000 years ago were like. Throughout this talk, you can interact with real remains of cultural materials from all of the aforementioned groups and learn how they've gone through history adapting to new socioeconomic demands along the way.
11:30 am and 17:30 pm
What did the Australopithecines eat? What were our first ancestors like? How big were Miguelón and his mates who lived 500,000 years ago in Atapuerca? All of these questions will be answered in this "mini-explanation." With the help of very realistic hominid replicas done by the sculptor Elisabeth Daynès, you can imagine exactly what the past was like for all these fossilized species. 
12:00 Noon and 6:00 pm
For millions of years hominids have been hunters and gatherers. This lifestyle has left a mark on a great part of our history. A little less than 10,000 years ago, we began to domesticate animals and plants. This radically changed our way of living and marked the beginning of what we are today. What consequences did our transformation to farmers and herders bring?
12:30 pm and 6:30 pm
Study up on Juan Navarro Baldeweg's architectural work and you will see why the Museum's interior has landscape recreations that show us how the vegetation at Atapuerca has evolved over the last million years. Maybe this step back in time can help us to reflect on our current relationship with nature and ponder how that relationship has been responsible for changes in many ecosystems.