Spain is culture

Art more than 16,000 years old

It is part of the Altamira Caves and Palaeolithic Cave Art in northern Spain declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It is located in the Nansa River Valley, in an area of cliffs with dense vegetation. At certain times of year you can access the cave by boat and there is a small artificial lake inside. The most unusual artistic representations are to be found in this same hall: horses, a wild bull, a deer and a range of female figures drawn in an intense shade of red using contour points.

At the entrance there are figures etched into the rock using the abrasion technique. They represent deer, a bison and perhaps a fish. In other halls there are also a host of animal figures, with bison, horses, deer, goats and at least one anthropomorphic figure and perhaps one long-legged figure. In these cases the lines are finer, suggesting a later creation date. All together, the paintings date from a period between 16,000 and 11,500 BC.

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Telephone: +34 942598425
E-mail: reservascuevas@culturadecantabria.es

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