Juan Luis Arsuaga obtained a PhD in Biological Sciences from Universidad Complutense, Madrid and since then, he has published numerous articles in the field of human evolution in the most prestigious magazines (e.g. Science, Nature). He is professor of paleontology at the Faculty of Geological Sciences of the Complutense University and scientific director of the Research Center for Evolution and Human Behavior. He is also president of the Gadea Foundation and vice president of the Atapuerca Foundation. Arsuaga is also Doctor Honoris Causa by the universities of Burgos, Zaragoza, and Polytechnic in Valencia. He is also member of the United States Academy of Sciences and the Spanish Royal Academy of Doctors.

Arsuaga has been co-director of the excavations at the sites of Atapuerca (Burgos) and Pinilla del Valle (Madrid), and as a result of this research, he received the Principe de Asturias award for Scientific and Technical Research in 1997, among other accolades. Arsuaga also was associate editor of Journal of Human Evolution. Among other books he wrote El collar del neandertal and La especie elegida. He was also the host and screenwriter of the documentary La España Prehistórica.