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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.
The cave of Las Aguas is located near the town of Novales, in the municipality of Alfoz de Lloredo. This cave contains rock art, including two bison carved and painted in red, a doe, a horse, a clavate (club), a sign on the grill and several more configurations. These remains have been dated to the early or middle Magdalenian period.
The Cave of Altamira is located near Santillana del Mar. This cave, called the "Sistine Chapel of Quaternary", is relatively small (270 m (890 ft)) and contains the rock paintings of sixteen bison, several depictions of deer, the largest of which is 2.25 m (7.4 ft) tall and of horses. The cave has been included in UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites since 1985.
The Cave of la Clotilde is located in the town of Santa Isabel de Quijas in the region of Reocín. Remains suggest that this area was occupied during the Magdalenian period; its cave paintings date from before the Aurignacian period, which include representations of animals and other symbols of unknown nature.
The cave of Cualventi is located in the town of Peralada, in Oreña in the municipality Alfoz of Lloredo dating approximately to the Magdalenian age. Several red spots can be found using the techniques of "buffered" and "spot" to depict a huge bison, goats, deer and horses very similar to the Cave of El Pendo, Cave of Covalanas and other Cantabrian caves.
Cullalvera Cave is located in the municipality of Ramales de la Victoria, capital of the comarca of Valley of the Asón River. The entry for this cave near the village arises from a Cantabrian oak, and it is part of a karstic complex about 12 km (7.5 mi) in size, in which a multitude of geological forms shaped by water over the course of thousands of years can be found. These forms in conjunction with other prehistoric remains make the cave one of the most visited of the region. Remains of a small reservoir and rock art, both from the Paleolithic have been found here.
The Cave of Chufín is located in the village of Riclones. It is located at the confluence point of several rivers and Nansa Lamasón in an environment with steep slopes amongst other caves with rock art. Chufín contains different levels of occupation, the oldest being around 20,000 years old. Even though the cave is small and of profound simplicity it subtle red paintings of deer, goats and cattle which are represented very schematically and a large number of symbols. One group, called "sticks", accompanies the animal paintings inside the cave. There are also a large number of pointillist drawings, including some around each hole in the rock which have been interpreted as a representation of a vulva. The cave has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2008. [1]
The Cave of La Estación is located near the cave of La Clotilde, in Santa Isabel de Quijas. It is notable for paintings in a large room representing horses and other signs which are not identifiable, dating from about the Aurignacian or Gravettian cultural periods.
Fuente del Salín Cave is located in the municipality of Val de San Vicente, and contains an archaeological site discovered in 1985. The path is accessible only in times of drought, because it lies along an underground river. The remains are a reservoir belonging mainly to the Upper Paleolithic, dated to 22,340 years ago by Carbon-14 dating, and also a hearth; rock art and several negative handprint paintings are visible in this room, in addition to positive handprint paintings in other rooms.
The Cave of La Garma is located north of the village of Omoño, in the municipality of Ribamontán al Monte. It was found to wall paintings and fossils in a Lower Gallery, one of the best preserved Magdaleinian period floors. It is part of the Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain World Heritage Site.
The Cave of Hornos de la Peña Cave was discovered in 1903 and is situated on a hill near the village of Tarriba, San Felices de Buelna. The most notable paintings are a bird-horse-man at the end of the cave; a headless bison, horse and others at various levels in the first room; the second set of 35 figures consists of animals such as horses, bison, aurochs, goats and others. The paintings were dated to the initial or middle Magdalenian period.
The cave of El Linar is located in La Busta, a town in the municipality of Alfoz de Lloredo. The path is an arroyo of more than 7 km (4.3 mi) with three mouths which join the stream of Busta. Paleolithic materials have been detected and also remnants of Magdalenian era occupations. In one of the galleries is a group of animalistic motifs recorded as goats, bison and ibex. There is also another group of paintings of lines and vulvas and remains of the Bronze Age.
The Cave of Los Marranos is located in Venta de Fresnedo, in the municipality of Lamasón; to access the cave, one follows a path that leads to two spring mouths. Geologically, it acts as a drain in times of flooding. It has a spacious entry with rock art. Remains of Paleolithic art are represented mainly by carvings in quartzite. a bronze buckle from the late Middle Ages indicates the possibility that the cave could have served as a shelter for travelers. In 2000, it was declared Bien de Interés Cultural by the Spanish Ministry of Law.
The cave of La Meaza is located in the municipality of Comillas. On the road to the district of La Molina there is a path leading to the cavity. Findings include the remains of Solutrean, Azilian and even some so-called Asturien evidence, recent prehistoric burials and remains of the Middle Ages. The fact that occupancy has many times explained by the shape of the cave, with a wide entrance and a comfortable lobby to your room. At the bottom of the cavity some remains of Paleolithic rock art framed in the style III of Leroi-Gourhan were found, although they have not been kept too well.
The Cave of Micolón is an archaeological site on the verge of the Palombera reservoir. It is a cavity of 500 m (1,600 ft) length with a particularly narrow labyrinthine structure, in which some flint carvings have been found, such as nodules with signs of having been worked on and a chisel. The remains belong to the Solutrean occupation period, between 20,000 and 17,000 years old. There are several examples of rock art, including 22 rock carvings and several red paintings, basically framed in a room near the entrance. There are deer, horses and tectiform inscriptions, all style III of André Leroi-Gourhan.
The Caves del Monte Castillo include the Cave of El Castillo, the Cave of Las Chimeneas, the Cave of Las Monedas and the Cave of La Pasiega.
The Cave of La Pasiega located in Puente Viesgo is included in the UNESCO schedule of Human Heritage since July 2008, under the citation "Cave of Altamira".
The Cave del Porquerizo is in the town of Celis, in the municipality of Rionansa. It is reached by a path leading up from the center of town, which then traverses down a steep slope. There are remnants of the cave's occupation from the Solutrean era, as well as Paleolithic cave paintings, dating between 20,000 and 17,000 years old. There are some rock paintings, in a red pinpoint style, and some indistinct carvings. Its context and its morphology have been classified as a style of Leroi-Gourhan III.
The cave of El Portillo del Arenal is located in the village of Velo, in the municipality of Piélagos. It contains well-preserved rock art, in addition to pottery fragments and funerary urns.
The Cave of Sovilla is located in the neighborhood of the same name in San Felices de Buelna and near the cave of Hornos de la Peña. It is characterized mainly by wall paintings that show deer, horses, bison and reindeer from the Magdalenian period.
The La Chora Cave is located in San Pantaleon de Aras and includes a number of chert items as well as flint blades and scraper backs and Magdalenian bone harpoons.
Morín Cave or "Cave of the King" is in Villaescusa. Archaeologists have found many items of interest in this site, such as the famous body cast of the so-called "Man of Morín" dating from the Middle Paleolithic. Thanks to the artifacts found in this cave, archaeologists have been able to study the habits of earlier hominids.
Cave of Ruso was discovered in Igollo, Camargo and provided materials from the Paleolithic and Bronze Age which were, as is traditional, moved to the Museum of Prehistory of Santander. There were several ceramic items in the classic beaker culture bell shape and the point of a retouched planar object. The Cave of Juyo has a long sequence of Magdalenian artifacts, though no rock art.
The Cave of El Soplao is located in the municipalities of Rionansa, Valdáliga and Herrerías. It is admired worldwide for the quality and quantity of geological formations or speleothems contained in its 17 miles in length, although only 6 are open to the public. There are rare formations as helictites (eccentric stalactites defying gravity) and "draperies" (sheets or translucent banners hanging from the ceiling). Its formation dates back to the Mesozoic, in particular the Cretaceous period 240 million years ago.
Torca del Carlista is located in Cantabria, and contains the fifth-largest underground chamber in the world. [2]
The Cave del Valle is located in the municipality of Rasines and also known by locals as "La Viejarrona." It has a majestic entry from which the Silent River springs, a tributary of Ruahermosa, both of Assos. It is an important site, both prehistorically as well as speleologically; it dates to about the Azilian and Upper Magdalenian.
Name | Date | Discoverer |
Cave of Altamira | 1879 | Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola |
Cave del Castillo | 1903 | Hermilio Alcalde del Río |
Cave of El Salitre | 1903 | Lorenzo Sierra |
Cave of Covalanas | September 1903 | Hermilio Alcalde del Río |
Cueva de La Haza | September 1903 | Hermilio Alcalde del Río y Lorenzo Sierra |
Cave of Hornos de la Peña | October 27 of 1903 | Hermilio Alcalde del Río |
Cave of Venta Laperra | 1904 | Lorenzo Sierra |
Cave of La Clotilde | 1906 | Hermilio Alcalde del Río y H. Breuil |
Cave of Sotarriza | August 12 of 1906 | Lorenzo Sierra |
Cave of Meaza | 1907 | Hermilio Alcalde del Río |
Cave of El Otero | 1908 | Lorenzo Sierra |
Cave of Las Aguas | 1909 | Hermilio Alcalde del Río |
Cave of La Pasiega | 1911 | H. Obermaier y P. Wernert |
Cave of Las Monedas | 1952 | Alfredo García Lorenzo |
Lascaux is a network of caves near the village of Montignac, in the department of Dordogne in southwestern France. Over 600 parietal wall paintings cover the interior walls and ceilings of the cave. The paintings represent primarily large animals, typical local contemporary fauna that correspond with the fossil record of the Upper Paleolithic in the area. They are the combined effort of many generations. With continued debate, the age of the paintings is now usually estimated at around 17,000 - 22,000 years. Because of the outstanding prehistoric art in the cave, Lascaux was inducted into the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979, as an element of the Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley.
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.
The Solutrean industry is a relatively advanced flint tool-making style of the Upper Paleolithic of the Final Gravettian, from around 22,000 to 17,000 BP. Solutrean sites have been found in modern-day France, Spain and Portugal.
The Franco-Cantabrian region is a term applied in archaeology and history to refer to an area that stretches from Asturias, in northern Spain, to Aquitaine and Provence in Southern France. It includes the southern half of France and the northern strip of Spain looking at the Bay of Biscay.
Santimamiñe cave, Kortezubi, Biscay, Basque Country, Spain, is one of the most important archaeological sites of the Basque Country, including a nearly complete sequence from the Middle Paleolithic to the Iron Age.
Cueva de La Pasiega, or Cave of La Pasiega, situated in the Spanish municipality of Puente Viesgo, is one of the most important monuments of Paleolithic art in Cantabria. It is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since July 2008, as part of the inscription: Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain.
The greater Basque Country comprises the Autonomous Communities of the Basque Country and Navarre in Spain and the Northern Basque Country in France. The Prehistory of the region begins with the arrival of the first hominin settlers during the Paleolithic and lasts until the conquest and colonisation of Hispania by the Romans after the Second Punic War, who introduced comprehensive administration, writing and regular recordings.
Puente Viesgo is a municipality in Cantabria, Spain. Caves have been discovered near Puente Viesgo that contain rock art and artefacts dating back to the Middle and Upper Paleolithic.
The Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain is a grouping of 18 caves of northern Spain, which together represent the apogee of Upper Paleolithic cave art in Europe between 35,000 and 11,000 years ago. In 2008, they were collectively designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
The Caves of Monte Castillo, located in the Cantabrian town of Puente Viesgo, contain one of the most important Paleolithic sites in the region. The complex of karstic caves is on the slopes of Monte Castillo, a hill south of Puente Viesgo, with an elevation of 354 m. It includes four out of the eighteen caves listed as World Heritage of UNESCO since July 2008 under the title of Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain: El Castillo, Las Chimeneas, and La Pasiega and Las Monedas. In addition, the complex includes a minor fifth cave, La Flecha. The caves are located along the Pas river in the Castillo mountain, squarely at the intersection of three valleys and near the coast.
The Villars Cave, in French Grotte de Villars or Grotte du Cluzeau, was occupied during the Lower Magdalenian by Cro-Magnon hunter-gatherers. The cave is part of the French commune of Villars in the northern Dordogne département. Besides its enormous wealth in beautiful stalactites, stalagmites and similar calcite deposits it contains cave paintings and some engravings. The Villars Cave and the Rouffignac Cave are the biggest known cave systems in the Dordogne.
Las Caldas Cave and the surrounding partial nature reserve is a protected area covering 45 hectares within the Nalón Valley in the Municipality of Oviedo in the vicinity of the towns of La Piñera and Las Caldas.
The Cave of Altxerri is located in the municipality of Aya (Gipuzkoa) in the Basque Country (Spain).
The Marsoulas Cave in southwestern France, near Marsoulas in the Haute-Garonne, is a small cave notable for its archaeological wealth, including Paleolithic cave paintings and ornaments from the Magdalenian. It consists of a straight gallery about 100 m (330 ft) long with parietal art along the entire length of the cave. The art includes human and animal figures as well as geometric forms and has been described as being of "profound stylistic originality with few equivalents in the region from the same period". The prehistoric artists who produced these used the varied topography of the cave and ceiling to produce three-dimensional engravings and paintings in scales ranging between 2.2 m (7.2 ft) to tiny miniatures.
The Tito Bustillo Cave is a prehistoric rock shelter located in the small town of Ribadesella, in the autonomous community of Asturias, Spain. The cave was inhabited by humans (cro-magnon) before the year 10,000 BC. Due to the collapse of the rock, the original entrance to the cave was sealed thousands of years ago, which made it possible for preservation of objects, tools and wall paintings that were discovered in 1968. Based on those objects found in the cave, it is known that there was a significant human presence during the Magdalenian culture of the Upper Palaeolithic, but the cave was probably inhabited before that time.
The caves of Arcy-sur-Cure are a series of caves located on the commune of Arcy-sur-Cure, Burgundy, France. Some of them contained archaeological artefacts, from the Mousterian to Gallo-Roman times.
The Pair-non-Pair Cave is located near the village of Prignac-et-Marcamps, Aquitaine:Gironde (33) department in France. Only discovered in 1881 it is known for remarkable prehistoric parietal engravings - petroglyphic representations of wild animals, "which rank among the most ancient examples of art made by prehistoric" humans, dating back to between 30,000 and 25,000 BP, the Aurignacian cultural period of the Upper Paleolithic.
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.
Vasco-Cantabria, in archaeology and the environmental sciences, is an area on the northern coast of Spain. It covers similar areas to the northern parts of the adjacent modern regions of the Basque country and Cantabria. In geology the "Vasco-Cantabrian Basin" or "Basque-Cantabrian Basin" covers the area and the seas off the coast in the Bay of Biscay, an area between the Iberian and European tectonic plates.
The Paleolithic in the Iberian peninsula is the longest period of Iberian prehistory, spanning from c. 1.3 million years ago (Ma) to c. 11,500 years ago, ending at roughly the same time as the Pleistocene epoch. The Paleolithic was characterized by climate oscillations between ice ages and small interglacials, producing heavy changes in Iberia's orography. Cultural change within the period is usually described in terms of lithic industry evolution.