Black bison, Altamira National Museum and Research Centre, Santillana del Mar, Cantabria at Spain is culture.

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Outstanding works / Prehistory / Altamira National Museum and Research Centre

Black bison

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Black bison. Museo Nacional y Centro de Investigación de Altamira © Pedro Saura

Category

Painting

Date

13000 BP

Cultural background

Palaeolithic

Original title

Bisonte negro

Altamira National Museum and Research Centre
Santillana del Mar
Cantabria

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It is drawn with coal, in the same way as charcoal that modern artists use. It is estimated that it was drawn about 13,000 years ago.

The bison is drawn with an artistic technique of which there is no evidence again until modern drawing. It was drawn with coal and was smudged to give the figure volume (on the hump and belly), and with a firm and intense stroke on the front legs.

It is thought, according to studies of the bison's carbon (carbon -14) that it was drawn just before the cave collapsed naturally.