Orce
{{Infobox settlement
| settlement_type = city
| official_name = Orce, Spain
| nickname =
| image_skyline = PANORAMICA_DE_ORCE_-_panoramio.jpg
| image_caption = View of Orce
| image_flag = sin_bandera.svg
| image_shield = sin_escudo.svg
| image_map = LocationOrce.png
| map_caption = Location of Orce
| coordinates ={{coord|37|43|17|N|02|28|46|W|region:ES_type:city|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = Spain
| subdivision_type1 = Province
| subdivision_name1 = Granada
| subdivision_type2 = Municipality
| subdivision_name2 = Orce
| leader_title =
| leader_name =
| area_magnitude =
| area_total_km2 = 324
| area_land_km2 =
| area_water_km2 =
| elevation_m = 928
| population_note =
| population_as_of = {{Spain metadata Wikidata|population_as_of}}
| population_footnotes = {{Spain metadata Wikidata|population_footnotes}}
| population_total = {{Spain metadata Wikidata|population_total}}
| population_density_km2 = auto
| timezone = CET
| utc_offset = +1
| timezone_DST = CEST
| utc_offset_DST = +2
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
Orce is a municipality located in the province of Granada, in southeastern Spain. According to the 2009 census (INE), the town has a population of 1,333 inhabitants.
Paleoanthropology
Orce is the location of the paleo-archaeological sites known as Barranco León, Venta Micena, and Fuente Nueva 3, near the basin of an ancient lake where fossils have been preserved in sediment. Josep Gibert of the M. Crusafont Institute in Sabadell has led an excavation team there. He asserts that the sites have Oldowan-style stone tools dating between 1.5 and 1.8 million years ago. If the early estimates are supported, these would represent the oldest stone tool finds in Europe{{citation |title=Ancient Roads to Europe: African ancestors may have entered Europe surprisingly early |journal=Science News |volume=151 |issue=1 |date=January 4, 1997 |pages=12–13 |doi=10.2307/3980723 |jstor=3980723}} and of settlers in Europe.{{citation |title=Orce, Spain: The site of Europe's earliest settlers |date=15 November 2023 |url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20231114-orce-spain-the-site-of-europes-earliest-settlers |access-date= 15 November 2023}} Other scholars prefer a more conservative date for the stone tools of 1.2 million years.{{cite journal |last=Balter |first=Michael |title=In Search of the First Europeans |journal=Science |series=New Series |volume=291 |issue=5509 |year=2001 |pages=1722–1725 |doi=10.1126/science.291.5509.1722|pmid=11249813 |s2cid=12954070 }} Together with the hominid remains at the Atapuerca Mountains, the tools are evidence that human ancestors settled in western Europe more than one million years (Ma) ago.
Recent numerical dating studies using Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) method applied to fossil teeth and quartz grains have provided ages of ca. 1.2 Ma for Fuente Nueva 3, and ca. 1.4 Ma for Barranco León and Venta Micena.{{cite journal |last1=Duval |first1=Mathieu |last2=Falguères |first2=Christophe |last3=Bahain |first3=Jean-Jacques |title=Age of the oldest hominin settlements in Spain: Contribution of the combined U-series/ESR dating method applied to fossil teeth |journal=Quaternary Geochronology |date=July 2012 |volume=10 |pages=412–417 |doi=10.1016/j.quageo.2012.02.025 |bibcode=2012QuGeo..10..412D |hdl=10072/340136 |hdl-access=free}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.orce.es/ Official site of the Village of Orce] {{in lang|es}}
{{Municipalities in Granada}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Municipalities in the Province of Granada
{{Granada-geo-stub}}