14 January-March 2020
Temporary exhibitions
Approximately 400,000 years ago, elephants, aurochs, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, horses and cervids, along with felines and other predators, frequented the banks of the River Manzanares, drawn by the lush vegetation and water. The number and diversity of fauna in Madrid at that time can only be found nowadays on the African savannah.
The presence of human groups in this territory is attested by vestiges of their activities and use of stone tools, giving rise to one of the highest concentrations of Palaeolithic sites in Europe. However, they disappeared as the city spread and grew over the course of the 20th century. Collections like that of the National Archaeological Museum, comprising thousands of artefacts, offer a glimpse of a lost world.
Prehistory Department