Honorary Chair Sir Edmund Hillary 1919-2008	President Daniel A. Bennett	Honorary President Don Walsh, Ph.D.

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EXPEDITIONS Grant Reports   REPORT—YOUTH ACTIVITY FUND Excavation of the Sopeña Rock Shelter 2005 By Daniel Morris Expedition Members: Dr. Ana Pinto, Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University Daniel Morris, Columbia University and others Introduction Perched on the bare limestone lip of rock-shelter in Sopeña, I gazed often upon the narrow valley that snakes several hundred feet below. Along its belly a stripe of a darker emerald canopy concealed the cool water of the river Gueña, which weaves its way westward, between boisterous mountains that vie for prominence upon the horizon. Out of those peaks’ lush green faces rocky ridges protruded at chaotic angles like fractured bones. I imagined that from any of these countless crags, Sopena too must appear to be merely another unassuming patch of stone. But I knew that within this humble piece of the Picos de Europa's slowly eroding skeleton, a cache of artifacts, lithics, and bones—dating as far back as the Middle Paleolithic—is concealed. And I knew that no matter where I stood, this fragment of the majestic mountains of Northern Spain would loom largest upon the horizon. FULL REPORT in pdf RETURN TO LIST

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