Zafarraya

Zafarraya
Municipality
Coat of arms
Location of Zafarraya
Zafarraya Location in Spain
Coordinates: 36°58′N 4°8′W / 36.967°N 4.133°WCoordinates: 36°58′N 4°8′W / 36.967°N 4.133°W
Country	Spain
Autonomous community	Andalusia
Province	Granada
Comarca	Alhama
Judicial district	Loja
Government
• Alcalde	José Miguel Muñoz Ortigosa (2007) (PSOE)
Area
• Total	58 km^2 (22 sq mi)
Elevation	893 m (2,930 ft)
Population (2009)
• Total	2,112
• Density	36/km^2 (94/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Zafarrayero, -a Choceño, -a
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	18128
Official language(s)	Spanish
Website	Official website

Zafarraya is a municipality in the province of Granada, Spain, with a population of 2,200 (2003).

Zafarraya is known for a Neanderthal mandible 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.^[1][2] Near the mandible, Mousterian 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 humans overlapped in Europe for a significant period.

Notes

1. Hublin J.J., Barroso Ruiz C., Medina Lara P., Fontugne M., Reyss J.-L., 1995 - The Mousterian site of Zafarraya (Granada, Spain): dating and implications on the palaeolithic peopling processes of Western Europe. C. R. Acad. Sc. Paris. 321 (IIa): 931-937
2. Hublin J.-J et E.Trinkaus, 1998 - The Mousterian human remains from Zafarraya (Granada, Spain). American Journal of Physical Anthropology suppl 26 : 122-123

External links

• Media related to Zafarraya at Wikimedia Commons