One of Madrid's oldest museums, dating back to 1867, this shares
the same building as the Biblioteca Nacional and Museo del
Libro. It traces the evolution of human cultures, from
prehistoric times up to the 15th century, and the collection of
artefacts includes finds from the Iberian, Celtic, Greek,
Egyptian, Punic, Roman, Paleochristian, Visigothic and Muslim
cultures. Remarkably, the great majority of pieces came from
excavations carried out within Spain, illustrating the
extraordinary continuity and diversity of human settlement in
the Iberian peninsula. To tour the whole museum in chronological
order, begin in the basement, which holds palaeontological
material such as skulls, tombs and a mammoth's tusks, still
attached to its skull. Some of the most interesting relics are
from the area around Madrid itself, such as the many 4,000-year-
old neolithic bell-shaped pottery bowls. The first floor holds
the museum's most famous possession, the Dama de Elche, the
intricate stone bust of an Iberian priestess, bel