| Armintxe Cave | |
|---|---|
  location in Spain  Armintxe Cave (Spain) | |
| Location | Lekeitio, Basque Country, Spain |
| Coordinates | 43°21′43″N2°30′29″W / 43.36194°N 2.50806°W |
| Visitors | no |
| Features | prehistoric parietal art |
Armintxe Cave in Lekeitio (Spain) is an important Paleolithic rock art site, estimated to date from between 12,000 and 14,500 years ago.[ citation needed ]
Armintxe Cave is situated in the Lekeitio municipality of the Biscay province, in the Basque Country, northern Spain.
Although the cave was known from a long time ago, it was believed that it disappeared because of the urbanization and construction works made at the end of the 20th century and beginnings of the 21st. It was found again and explored on May 1, 2016, by eight speleologists from the Basque group ADES Espeleologia Elkartea. After opening the entrance duct, located on a hillside in an urban environment, the cavers entered unknown galleries, and forced a step to a room where they found the panel of engravings. [1]
Some of these forms and the etching technique used were announced to be "identical" to those found in the French Pyrenees which suggests that there could have been links between the inhabitants of both areas. [2] Already described as a “treasure of humanity.” the depictions are among the largest found to date – some measuring up to 1.5 m (4.92 ft) in length. A surprise was the first Paleolithic representation of two lions in the region. In a first analysis the etchings were estimated to date from between 12,000 and 14,500 years ago.[ citation needed ]
The main panel is beautifully and masterly carved with animal figures, displayed in a complex composition, suggesting some sort of perspective. All of them have been engraved with the same technique, scratching the soft limestone with the fingers or with a dull point, resulting in very detailed and easy to see figures. The animals are represented with high detail, typical from Magdalenian art style. Represented animals are horses, bisons, ibex and some carnivores. One of these carnivores has been interpreted as a lion, which is an animal rarely present in Magdalenian art. Besides, several signs, including clear claviforms, have been found there. The conventions used for representing animals and the presence of claviforms suggest that the figures could be related to the Late Magdalenian art. [3]
Not open to the public, 'extremely difficult to access', located under a residential building in the center of Lekeitio, the need to preserve the paintings outlines the current impossibility to access the artwork. [4]
The cave has a serious problem with floodings, due to construction and urbanization activities which have profoundly altered the course of the underground river. The episodic inundation of most of the galleries of Armintxe has already brought the deterioration of an undetermined part of the artistic heritage it encloses, and threatens to destroy the whole art ensemble. To solve the problem, it is necessary to finish the exploration in order to understand the hydrogeological behaviour of the karst as a whole; but this exploration is actually paralysed due to disagreements between Administration, archaeologists and speleologists. [1]
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The Cave of Altamira is a cave complex, located near the historic town of Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain. It is renowned for prehistoric cave art featuring charcoal drawings and polychrome paintings of contemporary local fauna and human hands. The earliest paintings were applied during the Upper Paleolithic, around 36,000 years ago. The site was discovered in 1868 by Modesto Cubillas and subsequently studied by Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola.
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The Magdalenian cultures are later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic in western Europe. They date from around 17,000 to 12,000 years ago. It is named after the type site of La Madeleine, a rock shelter located in the Vézère valley, commune of Tursac, in France's Dordogne department.
Lekeitio is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the Spanish Autonomous Community of Basque Country, 53 km (33 mi) northeast from Bilbao. The municipality has 7,307 inhabitants (2019) and is one of the most important fishing ports of the Basque coast. Tourism has an important role during the summer seasons, when the town is a resort with one beach called Isuntza and the nearby Karraspio beach in the town of Mendexa.
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The art of the Upper Paleolithic represents the oldest form of prehistoric art. Figurative art is present in Europe and Southeast Asia, beginning between about 40,000 to 35,000 years ago. Non-figurative cave paintings, consisting of hand stencils and simple geometric shapes, are somewhat older, at least 40,000 years old, and possibly as old as 64,000 years. This latter estimate is due to a controversial 2018 study based on uranium-thorium dating, which would imply Neanderthal authorship and qualify as art of the Middle Paleolithic.
The Cantabrian caves' unique location make them an ideal place to observe the settlements of early humans thousands of years ago. The magnificent art in the caves includes figures of various animals of the time such as bison, horses, goats, deer, cattle, hands and other paintings. Archaeologists have found remains of animals such as bears, the remains of arrows and other material indicating a human presence; these artifacts are now found mostly in the Regional Museum of Prehistory and Archaeology of Cantabria.
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The La Garma cave complex is a parietal art-bearing paleoanthropological cave system in Cantabria, Spain. It is located just north of the village of Omoño, part of the municipality of Ribamontán al Monte. The cave complex is noted for one of the best preserved floors from the Paleolithic containing more than 4,000 fossils and more than 500 graphical units. It is part of the Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain World Heritage Site.
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