The Atapuerca Mountains (Sierra de Atapuerca in Spanish) is an ancient karstic region of Spain, in the province of Burgos and near Atapuerca and Ibeas de Juarros. It contains several caves, where fossils and stone tools of the earliest known Hominins in West Europe have been found. The earliest hominids may have dated to 1.2 million years ago, representing the first in Europe. "The Archeological Site of Atapuerca" has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Bureba Pass joins the interior of the Iberian peninsula to France. It connects the Ebro river valley leading to the Mediterranean Sea, and the Duero valley leading to the river's outlet at the Atlantic Ocean. As such, the pass was part of the Roman causeway and the pilgrimage Way of Saint James. It is now traversed by the N-I and AP-1 highways.

The sites in this area were found during the construction of railway cuts through Gran Dolina, Galería and Elefante, and in the cave of Sima de los Huesos. The scientific excavation, started by Francisco Jordá Cerdá in 1964, has found human remains from a wide range of ages: early humans to the Bronze Age and modern man. Sites in the area have also yielded stone artifacts. It was excavated by a team led by Emiliano Aguirre from 1978 until 1990, and then jointly by Eudald Carbonell, José María Bermúdez de Castro and Juan Luis Arsuaga.

Juan Luis Arsuaga Ferreras (born 1954 in Madrid) obtained a master degree and a doctorate in Biological Sciences at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where he is professor in the Paleontology Department of the Faculty of Geological Sciences.

As a child he already showed a great interest in prehistory after reading Quest for Fire and visiting a dig in nearby Bilbao.

Arsuaga is a visiting professor of the Department of Anthropology at the University College of London and since 1982 he has been a member of the Research Team investigating Pleistocene deposits in the Atapuerca Mountains (Province of Burgos, Spain). He has been a co-director since 1991 with José María Bermúdez de Castro and Eudald Carbonell Roura of the Atapuerca Team, which was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Scientific and Technical Research and the Castilla León Prize for the Social Sciences and Humanities, both in 1997. The finds at Atapuerca have shed new light on the first humans in Europe. This contrasts with the secretive atmosphere surrounding the digs to near Orce, in southern Spain, which has yielded tools indicating human presence that predate the finds at Atapuerca.

Tonino Carotone (born Antonio de la Cuesta on January 9, 1970 in Burgos, Spain) is a Spanish singer-songwriter. The majority of his childhood and adolescence were spent in Pamplona, Spain. Although Tonino has had a lifelong love for Italian music, he did not visit Italy until 1995 when he flew there in order to avoid Spanish military service. In 2000, Tonino gained success in Italy shortly after releasing the single Me cago en el amor from his debut album Mondo difficile. In 2003 Tonino returned with yet another Italian inspired album, Senza Ritorno.

Tonino Carotone and Manu Chao performed the theme song for Drew Carey's Green Screen Show, titled La Trampa.

In 2006, Tonino and writer Federico Traversa released a book titled Il Maestro dell’Ora Brava.

Previous to his solo work, Tonino formed part of the Pamplona based group Kojon Prieto y los Huajolotes, gaining a moderate following before disbanding in 1995.