Hoya de Baza, the ‘spa’ prehistoric – The Reason

A scientific paper published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews endorses strong hydrothermal activity in the Hoya de Baza , which ran 1.5 million years ago as a prehistoric ‘spa’ with hot water temperature to 36 degrees that marked species found in Orce.

The Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) stressed in a statement this publication as scientific support pointing the lake basin of Guadix and Baza served 1.5 million years ago prehistoric thermal enclosure.

This Granada basin surrounded by the highest peaks of Sierra Nevada , the Sierra de Baza, Sierra de las Estancias, Sierras de la Sagra, Cazorla and Segura, hosts the most important archaeological paleontological localities of the Mediterranean, only comparable to the deposits of Rift Valley of East Africa.

In this archaeological discovery work developed at the sites of Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 Micena Sale Orce, who are documenting the ecological and paleoenvironmental setting of the area, with a large brackish lake added.

paper published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews analyzes and documents mineralogical and geochemical evidence as sulfur deposits or magnesium clays point to the existence of a strong hydrothermal activity in the region during the last million years.

The work has been led by doctor and professor at the University of Málaga and José Manuel García Aguilar has joined experts in the field as Bienvenido Martínez-Navarro, Researcher, Institut Català de Paleoecology Human Social Evolution (IPHES) and coordinator of the research currently being conducted in Orce

The research has focused on collagen recovered in the fossil fauna found in Sale Micena and values ​​indicating that makes one and a half million years rainfall in the Hoya de Baza were much higher than today.

These rainfall and input from hot springs lake remained necessary for the existence of a marked character Wildlife subtropical species such as the giant hippo Pleistocene.

This scenario sets up what is known as a “hotspot” of biological productivity, similar to that found in the chain of lakes considered the cradle of East Africa humanity.