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Paleantology

Eudald Carbonell (Ribes de Freser [Girona], 1953) is an archaeologist and palaeontologist. He received his PhD in geology from the University Pierre et Marie Curie (1986) and in history from the University Rovira i Virgili of Tarragona.

As he himself says, his calling comes from a very young age. Before he was 15 he had already collected fossils and minerals, and had already done his first excavations.

As was to be expected, the life of Eudald Carbonell, has been completely linked to the archaeological world. As a result from this passion, in 1991, even though he had already spent time working (under the guidance of the professor Emiliano Aguirre), he became co-director of the research project of Atapuerca (together with José María Bermúdez y Juan Luis Arsuaga), one of the largest research programmes ever to be carried out. From this project big findings have been extracted that have helped in a very important way to enrich the scientific knowledge related to prehistory and palaeontology. One example is the discovery of a new species of hominoid, Homo antecesor, the explorer who left the African continents to travel towards Europe.

He has received many prices and distinctions. The most distinguished one is the Premio Príncipe de Asturias for Technical and Scientific Research in 1997, a prize that was awarded to the Atapuerca research team.

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