Altamira in brief
Altamira Cave is in Cantabria, near the town of Santillana del Mar, about 30 kilometres west of Santander. A chamber known as the Polychrome Ceiling is covered with paintings of bison, a horse and a deer in red, black and violet, using the natural bulges of the rock to make the animals look rounded. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed in 1985 and later extended with other Spanish caves.
Discovery
A hunter, Modesto Cubillas, found the cave in about 1868 after his dog became trapped in a crevice. In 1879 Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, a local landowner and amateur archaeologist, was digging in the cave floor when his young daughter María, about eight years old, wandered into the chamber and looked up. She is said to have cried “Look, Papa, bulls!” Sautuola saw the huge painted animals on the ceiling.
Sautuola published the discovery in 1880 and argued that the paintings were as old as the Ice Age tools he had found on the floor. The leading experts of the time did not believe him. Many said the paintings were too skilful and too fresh to be so old, and some suggested that Sautuola had had them painted. He died in 1888 without having been vindicated.
Acceptance
In the 1890s and early 1900s, further paintings found in caves in France showed that Ice Age people had made art. In 1902 the French prehistorian Émile Cartailhac, who had been one of Sautuola’s most important critics, published an article “Mea culpa d’un sceptique” (“A sceptic’s confession”), accepting that Altamira was genuine.
Age
Studies with uranium-thorium dating, published in 2012, showed that a red symbol in the cave was at least 35,600 years old, and that other paintings were made over a long period, down to about 22,000 years ago. The famous polychrome ceiling is thought to belong to the Magdalenian period, roughly 15,000 to 22,000 years ago, though precise dates are debated.
Closing the cave
Large numbers of visitors caused damage, as at Lascaux. The cave was closed in 1977, reopened with restrictions, and closed again in 2002. A very small number of people can now enter on a limited basis, for a short visit, by a selection that has been held periodically since 2014.
The replica
A full-size copy of the cave and its ceiling, a replica cave, was built beside the original and opened in 2001 as part of the National Museum and Research Centre of Altamira. It is the main way for visitors to see the paintings.
Why it matters
Altamira was where the idea that Ice Age people were artists was first put forward. Its story, of an amateur ignored by experts, is a standard case in the history of archaeology.
Visiting
The museum and replica cave at Altamira are open to visitors. Entry to the original cave is strictly limited. See also Chauvet.
Sources
- Sanz de Sautuola, M. (1880). Breves apuntes sobre algunos objetos prehistóricos de la provincia de Santander. Santander.
- Cartailhac, É. (1902). Les cavernes ornées de dessins: la grotte d’Altamira, Espagne. “Mea culpa d’un sceptique”. L’Anthropologie 13: 348 to 354.
- Pike, A. W. G. and others (2012). U-series dating of Paleolithic art in 11 caves in Spain. Science 336: 1409 to 1413.
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain.