DAY-BY-DAY FIELD SCHOOL PROGRAMME AND TEAM DEVELOPMENT

Team development is assisted by daily sessions after lunch when resumés of the day's activities and briefings for the next day can be commented on. The daily sessions after siesta when we are washing and sorting finds also bring everybody together in one place involved in common activities related to the finds from the day and sorting those which have dried out from the previous day. These work sessions may be followed by one of the three talks I give to each group: about the Project itself, about Plio-Pleistocene Human Evolution, and about the origin and evolution of Neanderthals. On other days, there is time for leisure and relaxation before dinner. On other than R&R days, and whenever administrative matters do not demand that I absent myself after 20.00 hours, I have tried to be present with the group upto and during Dinner and quite often I have joined with all our members after Dinner in visiting local entertainments. Increasdingly administrative and representational obligations intrude on my time, when my co-directors María Haber and Mariano López take full charge. Very many senior site helpers join in after-dinner events and our new helpers usually have a good time with them.

Day 1 (Thursday)

Afternoon/evening: Airport pick-up and transport to Caravaca field base. Day 2

Morning: open and set up the Cueva Negra excavation.

Afternoon: talk about The “Cueva Negra-Sima de las Palomas” Research Project (Michael Walker). Day 3

Morning: excavation at Cueva Negra; instruction in field techniques, wet-sieving, recording finds, etc. Afternoon: showing of animated film “Cueva Negra”; instruction in field lab; sorting finds.

Day 4

Morning: excavation at Cueva Negra; instruction in field techniques, wet-sieving, recording finds, etc. Afternoon: free time (no afternoon lab).

Day 5

Morning: excavation at Cueva Negra; visit to Roman temple remains at nearby La Encarnación.

Afternoon: sorting finds in lab; talk-seminar on Human Evolution from the Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene (Michael Walker). Day 6

Morning: excavation at Cueva Negra; visit to chert outcrop 800 m from the cave.

Afternoon: sorting finds in lab; brief talk about excavating the Caravaca Camino del Molino Neolithic burial chamber with 1,300 crania

and skeletal remains (María Haber and Mariano López).

Day 7

Morning: excavation at Cueva Negra; anyone wanting to go shopping at Caravaca’s open market can be taken into town at 10.30 am. Afternoon: free time (no afternoon lab); optional excursion to collect chert at Collado del Gitano outcrop.

Day 8

Morning: excavation at Cueva Negra.

Afternoon: seminar Faunal Remains and Biostratigraphy at Cueva Negra (Antonio López, Azucena Avilés, Ángel Buitrago); sorting finds in lab.

Day 9

Excursion to see prehistoric rock paintings; picnic lunch at Nerpio swimming pool (no morning excavation, no afternoon lab). Day 10

Morning: excavation at Cueva Negra.

Afternoon: workshop on Flint-knapping (Mariano López Martínez); sorting finds in lab. Day 11

Morning: excavation at Cueva Negra.

Afternoon: seminar on The Evolution of the Human Brain and of the Early and Middle Pâlaeolithic (Michael Walker); sorting finds in lab. Day 12

Morning: excavation at Cueva Negra.

Afternoon: seminar on Use-wear Analysis and Stone Tools (Ignacio Martín); sorting finds in lab. Day 13

Morning: excavation at Cueva Negra. Afternoon: sorting finds in lab. Day 14

Free time all day (no morning excavation; no afternoon lab) Day 15

Morning: excavation at Cueva Negra.

Afternoon: seminar on Pollen Analysis and Quaternary Climate (José Carrión and Santiago Ferñandez); sorting finds in lab Day 16

Morning: excavation at Cueva Negra. Afternoon: sorting finds in lab. Day 17

Morning: excavation at Cueva Negra; Press Conference Meet-the-Media at Cueva Negra. Afternoon: seminar on Fire and Flint at Cueva Negra (Michael Walker); sorting finds in lab. Day 18 (Sunday)

Morning: Open Day at Cueva Negra. Afternoon: free time (no afternoon lab). Day 19

Morning: short excavation (8-10.30am) at Sima de las Palomas; excursion to Cueva Negra for whoever has never been there before. Afternoon: seminar on Cleaning and Scanning the Sima de las Palomas Neanderthal Skeletons (Jon Ortega); sorting finds in lab. Day 5

Morning: excavation at Sima de las Palomas; instruction in field techniques, wet-sieving, recording finds, etc. Afternoon: seminar on Use-wear Analysis and Stone Tools (Ignacio Martín); sorting finds in lab.

Day 6

Morning: excavation at Sima de las Palomas; instruction in field techniques, wet-sieving, recording finds, etc.

Afternoon: sorting finds in lab; Faunal Remains from Sima de las Palomas (Antonio López, Azucena Avilés and Ángel Buitrago). Day 7

Free time all day (no morning excavation; no afternoon lab) Day 8

Morning: brief visit to new Museum of Palaeontology and Human Evolution; excavation at Sima de las Palomas. Afternoon: sorting finds in lab.

Day 9