I’d been under the impression that this site was in the running for the ancestral home of Neandertal, via Heidelbergensis, and that the remains were the latter. This page was little help:
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/atapuerca/sima/index.php
“...The hominids of Sima de los Huesos lived around 400,000 years ago — much later than Homo antecessor. Detailed analysis of the Sima fossils indicates that these hominids belong to a different lineage, possibly unrelated to Homo antecessor.”
I think we should just refer to them as “Bob”.
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/atapuerca/simahumans/skull5.php
“...The early humans who lived in the region of Atapuerca some 400,000 years ago represent a distinct species from the earlier Gran Dolina population. The scientists who discovered the Sima hominids have tentatively classified them as members of Homo heidelbergensis, named for Heidelberg, Germany, the first site where that species was found. Evidence from other sites of similar age suggests that this species probably used throwing spears and built fires — two things for which there is so far no evidence at the Gran Dolina site. The early humans of Sima de los Huesos resembled the Neanderthals, a later species that eventually inhabited Europe and part of Asia before going extinct some 30,000 years ago. Indeed, some scholars have suggested that the species at Sima de los Huesos was a direct ancestor of the Neanderthals.