Zafarraya is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

province of Granada Granada is a province of southern Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by the provinces of Albacete, Murcia, Almería, Jaén, Córdoba, Málaga, and the Mediterranean Sea (along the Costa Tropi ...

, Spain, with a population of 2,200 (2003). Zafarraya is known for a

Neanderthal Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...

mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

found in a cave (Cueva del Boquete) in 1983 by Cecilio Barroso and Paqui Medina. The mandible has been dated to 30,000 years Before Present (BP), and at the time represented the youngest-known Neanderthal remains. Near the mandible,

Mousterian The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an Industry (archaeology), archaeological industry of Lithic technology, stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and with the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and We ...

tools dated to 27,000 years BP were found. The find was one of the first pieces of definite evidence showing that the presence of Neanderthals and

modern human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

s overlapped in Europe for a significant period. During the

Andalusian earthquake of 25 December 1884 The 1884 Andalusian earthquake () occurred on 25 December 1884 at 9:08 p.m in the south of Spain, and had an estimated magnitude of 6.7 . It shook a poor region where many of the houses were built without foundations, with lime or mud mortar, and ...

, more than 30% of the houses in Zafarraya collapsed and 53% were badly damaged, some of which fell during aftershocks. The new church, which was under construction, was destroyed. 25 to 27 people died, 24 sustained serious injuries and 56 had minor injuries. However, in March 1885 it is reported that there were still 203 patients with traumatic conditions. The survivors took refuge in the town of Almendrón. The damage was less than in Ventas de Zafarraya due to differences in the land: Jurassic limestones in Zafarraya and Quaternary sediments in Ventas de Zafarraya.

References

External links

* Archaeological sites in Spain Municipalities in the Province of Granada Neanderthal sites Mousterian {{Granada-geo-stub

See also

References

External links