About The Cave Of Altamira: Modern Art Happened 18,000 Years Ago

The Altamira Cave, is located near Santillana del Mar, Santander, Spain. The cave is famous for its paleolithic cave paintings of wild animals in red, charcoal and ochre and is frequently described as the Sistine Chapel of Palaeolithic Art. What is astonishing about the paintings is that they look like modern art yet they are between 14 and 18,000 years old.

The Cave measures 270 metres long and is made up of various rooms and passages in an S shape. With the main chamber measuring 18m by 9m.
Cave of Altamira

Quick Reference Guide
Discovery
Thought To Be Forgeries
Marcelinon’s Vindication
Excavations Continue
Altamire’s Powerful Impact
Further Reading

Discovery

In 1879 María Justina, the nine year old daughter of amateur archaeologist Marcelinon Sanz de Sautuola, discovered a series of drawings and paintings on the roof of the cave. Her father had been searching for artifacts in the cave when his daughter cried out ‘Look, Papa, oxen’. The paintings and drawings depicted wild animals including bison, red deer, boar and horses along with paintings of human hands.

Sautuola and archaeologist Juan Vilanovoy Piera from the University of Madrid, together excavated the cave. And in 1880 they publicised their findings in Braves apuntes alaunos objetos prehistoricas de la provincial de Santander, in which they concluded the paintings dated to the Paleolithic Period.

Thought To Be Forgeries

The findings of Sautola and Piera were dismissed by French specialists Gabriel de Mortilet and Emile Cartailhac, and at the 1880 Prehistorical Congress in Lisbon, their hypothesis was loudly rejected as nonsense.

The Catholic Church also became involved and was anxious to discredit the paintings for fear it might focus on evolution and put into question the omnipresence of God.

At one point, because of the well preserved nature of the paintings, Sautuola was even accused of forgery by a fellow country man who suggested Sautuola had hired someone to produce the paintings.

Marcelinon’s Vindication

In 1902 a number of other prehistoric paintings were discovered which served to convince experts that the Altamira paintings were indeed genuine.

That same year Emile Cartailhac admitted he had been wrong in his condemnation of the findings of Sautuola and published an article in the journal L’Anthropologie, entitled ‘Mea culpa d’une sceptique’.

However, his apology came too late for Sautuola who didn’t live to see his good name restored or his conclusions vindicated, as he had died 14 years earlier.

Artifacts have been found in the cave that date from as early as the 18,500 years ago and as early as 14,000 years ago covering the Upper Solutrean and Lower Magdalenean Periods. It appears that a rockfall had sealed off the cave roughly 13,000 years ago.

Excavations Continue

Excavations continued from 1902 to 1904 by Hermilio Alcalde del Rio and by the German Hugo Obermaier from 1924 to 1925 and finally by Joaquin Gonzalez Echegaray in 1981.

In 1985 the cave was enrolled into the UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

During the 1960s and 1970s the paintings were becoming badly damaged by the carbon dioxide emitted from the breath of the crowds of people who flocked to see the historic chambers. So in 1977, the cave was closed to the public. It was reopened in 1982 but with very limited access. Finally in 2001 a replica cave was opened and the original cave was closed completely.

The replica is described as a faithful reproduction of the original with the colours and pigments fashioned from similar powders used in the original.

Altamira’s Powerful Impact

Following a visit to the cave Picasso is quoted as saying ‘Beyone Altamira all is decadence’.

In 1999 the rock group Steely Dan188 released their song in honour of the caves, called ‘The Caves of Altamira’.

Yellow Magpie