Resumen de Galería Baja y su relación con el yacimiento de la Sima del Elefante: (Cueva Mayor, Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos)
Ana Isabel Ortega Martínez, Isidoro Campaña Lozano, Alfonso Benito Calvo, Josep Maria Parés Casanova, A. Pérez González, Miguel Ángel Martín Merino, Rosa Huguet Pàmies, Josep Vallverdú Poch, Raquel Pérez Martínez, Arantza Aranburu Artano, Juan Luis Arsuaga Ferreras, José María Bermúdez de Castro, Eudald Carbonell Roura
Galería Baja and Sima del Elefante are part of the same subhorizontal conduit developed at 1000-1005 m a.s.l., beloging to the the intermediate level of the Sierra de Atapuerca karst multilevel system. This conduit starts in the Sala de los Cíclopes and continues towards NNW, to drain the Valhondo Valley through the Sima del Elefante. Sediment inputs during the Pleistocene filled the conduit along 10 metres, isolating the Sima del Elefante. Nowadays, the section of the prehistory silos of Galería Baja shows a sequence including speleothems at the top with Ursus deningeri remains, a sand level with palaeoarchaeological findings and in their bottom the palaeomagnetic reversal was detected. Clayey silt facies are at the base. The archaeological remains along Galería Baja, and the lack of other entrances, suggest a direct relation between this gallery and the Sima del Elefante, which could function as an occasional draining input area during Middle Pleistocene.
