Altamira cave paintings to be opened to the public once again | World news | The Guardian Spain Altamira cave paintings to be opened to the public once again Small groups of visitors will be allowed into Spain's 'Sistine Chapel of paleolithic art', the regional government has said A detail of the roof in the replica of the Altamira cave. Photograph: Esteban Cobo/EPA Wednesday 26 February 2014 13.01 EST First published on Wednesday 26 February 2014 13.01 EST Close This article is 2 years old For 12 years, visitors wanting to see Spain's prized prehistoric Altamira cave paintings have had to settle for a replica in a museum a few hundred feet away. But from Thursday, small groups of visitors will again be allowed in the cave, which has been described as the Sistine Chapel of paleolithic art, as part of an experiment to determine whether the paintings can support the presence of sightseers. The vast cavern complex, in the Cantabria region of northern Spain , was made a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1985.

It is covered in paintings dated to between 14,000 and 20,000 years ago of animals including European bison and bulls. From now until August, on a randomly selected day of the week, visitors to the replica cave in the Museo de Altamira will be invited to enter a draw; five will be chosen to take a guided tour including 37 minutes inside the cave. Visitors will have to put on special suits, masks and shoes before entering the site. Up to 192 lucky winners are expected to visit the cave in total. While they admire the red and black paintings on the limestone walls, researchers will measure their impact on the cave's temperature, humidity, microbiological contamination and CO2 levels. The results will be used to determine whether or not the cave can be reopened to the public, a controversial decision that has pitted the local tourist economy against government scientists. This painting of a large male bison is the best known figure in the Altamira cave.

Photograph: Pedro A Saura/AP The site has been closed several times, starting in 1977 after scientists warned that body heat and CO2 levels from the 3,000 daily visitors were deteriorating the paintings. When the cave was re-opened again, to a limited amount of visitors, the waiting list swelled, leaving people waiting up to three years to get a glimpse of the prehistoric masterpieces. The cave was again closed to the public in 2002 after scientists blamed body heat, light and moisture for the appearance of green mould on some of the paintings. Since then, the regional government of Cantabria has been lobbying for the site to be reopened. "Altamira is a valuable asset that we cannot afford to do without," Miguel Ángel Revilla, former head of the regional government of Cantabria, told El País. "Every famous person who comes here wants to visit it. I've had to tell [former presidents] Jacques Chirac of France and Felipe Calderón of Mexico that they couldn't." His position runs counter to that of scientists at the government's main research body.

A 2010 report, by the Spanish National Research Council warned of the dangers of letting visitors into the complex. "The people who go in the cave have the bad habit of moving, breathing and perspiring," was one of the conclusions. The report made it very clear that the cave shouldn't be open to visitors, lead researcher Sergio Sánchez Moral recently told Público.es, warning: "The consequences of doing so are immeasurable." The paintings are thought to be between 14,000 and 20,000 years old. Photograph: Esteban Cobo/EPA José Antonio Lasheras, director of the Museo de Altamira, defended the decision. The tours, he said, were part of a carefully calculated equation to find a balance between conservation efforts and making the country's heritage as accessible as possible. While the museum's replica of the cave may give people a sense of the place, he said, "the emotion: we can't give that.

The emotion can come only from being inside the cave of Altamira." Opening the cave to visitors, said Lasheras, could be likened to hanging a painting by Velázquez in the Museo Nacional del Prado, or one by Turner in Tate Britain. "We also take a risk when we hang our best paintings in museums," he said. "We don't put these paintings in Trafalgar Square, where more people would see them; nor do we keep them in a closed-off room, where nobody would see them. It's a controlled risk." Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain - UNESCO World Heritage Centre Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain Indicators Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain Seventeen decorated caves of the Paleolithic age were inscribed as an extension to the Altamira Cave, inscribed in 1985. The property will now appear on the List as Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain.

The property represents the apogee of Paleolithic cave art that developed across Europe, from the Urals to the Iberian Peninusula, from 35,000 to 11,000 BC. Because of their deep galleries, isolated from external climatic influences, these caves are particularly well preserved. The caves are inscribed as masterpieces of creative genius and as the humanity’s earliest accomplished art. They are also inscribed as exceptional testimonies to a cultural tradition and as outstanding illustrations of a significant stage in human history. Grotte d’Altamira et art rupestre paléolithique du nord de l’Espagne Dix-sept grottes ornées datant du Paléolithique ont été ajoutées en tant qu’ extension du site de la grotte d’Altamira, inscrit en 1985. Ce bien apparaîtra désormais sur la Liste sous le nom de La grotte Altamira et l’art rupestre paléolithique du Nord de l’Espagne.

L’ensemble illustre l’apogée de l’art rupestre paléolithique qui s’est développé à travers l’Europe, de l’Oural à la péninsule Ibérique, de 35 000 à 11 000 ans avant J.-C. On doit son excellente conservation au fait qu’il s’agit de galeries profondes, isolées des influences climatiques extérieures. Les grottes sont inscrites en tant que chefs-d’œuvre du génie créateur de l’homme et premier art humain pleinement maîtrisé. Il s’agit aussi de témoignages exceptionnels d’une tradition culturelle et d’illustrations remarquables d’une étape significative de l’histoire humaine. كهف ألتاميرا وفن النقش في الصخور في العصر الحجري القديم في شمال إسبانيا مجموعة مؤلفة من 17 كهفاً من العصر الحجري القديم أضيفت كامتداد لموقع ألتاميرا الأصلي المدرج على القائمة منذ عام 1985.

وسوف تكون للموقع تسمية جديدة هي كهف ألتاميرا وفن النقش في الصخور في العصر الحجري القديم في شمال إسبانيا. تمثل المجموعة أوج فن الكهوف في العصر الحجري القديم، الذي نما عبر أرجاء أوروبا، من جبال الأورال إلى شبه الجزيرة الإيبيرية، خلال الحقبة الممتدة من 000 53 إلى 000 11 قبل الميلاد. ونظراً لدهاليزها العميقة والمعزولة عن التأثيرات المناخية الخارجية، فإن هذه الكهوف محفوظة جيداً. وقد أدرِجت كروائع للعبقرية الإبداعية وتمثيل لبدايات الفن البشري، وكشهادات استثنائية أيضاً عن تقليد ثقافي وفني لمرحلة هامة من تاريخ البشرية.

source: UNESCO/ERI Пещера Альтамира и наскальное искусство периода палеолита на севере Испании это новое название было дано объекту «Пещера Альтамира», занесенному в Список в 1985 году. К первоначальному памятнику были добавлены семнадцать пещер с наскальными изображениями, относящимися к периоду палеолита. Этот ансамбль - апогей наскального изобразительного искусства палеолита, распространившегося по всей Европе – от Урала до Иберийского полуострова – в период с 35 000 до 11 000 лет до н.э. Эти пещеры великолепно сохранились благодаря их глубинному залеганию, защищавшему их от климатических перепадов.

Пещеры занесены в Список как уникальные свидетельства созидательного существа первобытного человека и существования культурной традиции. Это своего рода шедевры первого вида творческой деятельности, полностью освоенной человеком, способствующие лучшему пониманию важного периода человеческой истории. source: UNESCO/ERI Cueva de Altamira y arte rupestre paleolítico del norte de España Diecisiete grutas ornamentadas de la época paleolítica se agregaron a la Lista como ampliación del sitio de la cueva de Altamira, inscrito en 2005. Este bien aparece en la Lista con el nombre de Cueva de Altamira y arte rupestre paleolítico del norte de España. El conjunto es representativo del apogeo del arte rupestre paleolítico que se desarrolló en toda Europa, desde los Montes Urales hasta la Península Ibérica, entre los años 35.000 y 11.000 a.C.

El buen estado de conservación de las cuevas se debe a que sus galerías profundas las preservaron de las influencias climáticas externas. El arte rupestre de estas cuevas figura en la Lista por ser una obra maestra del genio creador del hombre y la primera de sus expresiones artísticas consumadas. Asimismo, constituye un testimonio excepcional de una cultura ancestral y una ilustración extraordinaria de una etapa importante de la historia de la humanidad. source: UNESCO/ERI Altamira Cave Paintings Altamira Cave Paintings Altamira Cave Entry Photo: albertoyp via Panoramio Altamira Cave is 270 metres long and consists of a series of twisting passages and chambers. The main passage varies from two to six metres in height. Archaeological excavations in the cave floor found rich deposits of artefacts from the Upper Solutrean (ca 18 500 years ago) and Lower Magdalenean (between ca 16 500 and 14 000 years ago). Both periods belong to the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age.

In the millennia between these two occupations, the cave was evidently inhabited only by wild animals. Human occupants of the site were well-positioned to take advantage of the rich wildlife that grazed in the valleys of the surrounding mountains as well as the marine life available in nearby coastal areas. Around 13,000 years ago a rockfall sealed the cave's entrance, preserving its contents until its eventual discovery, which occurred after a nearby tree fell and disturbed the fallen rocks. Human occupation was limited to the cave mouth, although paintings were created throughout the length of the cave. The artists used charcoal and ochre or haematite to create the images, often diluting these pigments to produce variations in intensity and creating an impression of chiaroscuro. They also exploited the natural contours in the cave walls to give their subjects a three-dimensional effect. The Polychrome Ceiling is the most impressive feature of the cave, depicting a herd of extinct Steppe Bison (Bison priscus) in different poses, two horses, a large doe, and possibly a wild boar. Dated to the Magdalenean occupation, these paintings also include abstract shapes in addition to animal subjects.

Solutrean paintings include images of horses and goats, as well as handprints that were created when artists placed their hands on the cave wall and blew pigment over them to leave a negative image. Numerous other caves in northern Spain contain Palaeolithic art, but none is as complex or well-populated as Altamira. Text above adapted from Wikipedia. One of the bisons on the ceiling of Altamira in Spain, representing the final stage of polychrome art in which four shades of colour are used. Photo: M. Burkitt 'The Old Stone Age' (1955), after Breuil. Bison at Altamira. This appears to be the original of the one that Breuil painted, above. Photo: Guinea (2011) The 'Neocueva', part of El Museo de Altamira, which aims to recreate the environment at Altamira so that people may get a feeling for the life of the people of Altamira, while the original cave is kept from harm. The large size of the mouth of the cave (20 metres wide and 6 metres high) provided access to a large 'hall'.

This large covered entrance lasted until 13 000 years ago, when it collapsed, sealing the cave, until it was discovered in 1868 when a hunter's dog chased a fox across hilly countryside. The dog fell among some boulders. When the hunter rescued the dog, he saw the entrance to a cave. Illuminated by daylight, this was the place where the tribe lived. Photo and text: Plan of the Altamira museum, showing the display areas and the Neocueva. Note that North is towards the bottom of the image. Photo: Aerial image of the museum and Altamira Cave, which is circled. North to the top of the image. Photo: Google Earth Because the inhabitants lived close to the coast, fish was a common part of the diet. One of their regular activities was to organise expeditions to the coast to spear or cast their nets to catch fish from the sea. Shellfish are also abundant on the coast. They obtained abundant seafood as well as highly prized shells, which according to their size were used as containers, decorative objects for the body, or ritual magic. Photo and text: Female bison at Altamira.

This is a reproduction in the 'Deutsches Museum', Munich. Photo: Ramessos Another version of this female bison. Photo: (left) Altamira National Museum and Research Centre © Ministry of Culture, Another version of this female bison. Photo: The ceiling art does not conform to any alignment or proportion of size, and some images overlap others. Photo: Head of a bison. This is an excellent photograph from the display at the Altamira Museum, and shows the care and attention to detail of the artists commissioned to make copies of the original Altamira paintings. Photo: Ernesto Lazo via Picasa Plan of the cave at Altamira. Photo: Nachosan Permission: Creative Commons Attribution Generic / Share-Alike 3.0 Plan of the cave at Altamira. Photo: E. Pfeiffer 'The Creative Explosion' Plan of the cave at Altamira. Photo: Parkyn (1915) (Public Domain) Altamira cave is set on a hillside, and there is little to tell the casual traveller what mysteries lie behind the trees. Photo: Hans Castorp via Panoramio The cave is not open to the general public.

Photo: ProfBoss via Panoramio View of the mountains from Altamira, which means 'high view'. You can see why, when you look at this photo of the vista of the Picos de Europa mountains from outside the cave of Altamira, with the ground you are standing on just above the polychrome chamber. Photo: © Pedro Saura Lasheras (ca 2008) Bison. Photo: Guinea (2011) Many of the paintings at Altamira appear to have been airbrushed, a sophisticated technique which may be done as shown. Two hollow bones are used, one set perpendicularly in a container of water and ochre, the other is held in the mouth. When the artist blows across the open hollow bone, the reduction in air pressure forces the ochre up the vertical hollow bone, at which point it is blown onto the rock surface by the jet of air from the bone held in the mouth of the artist. Photo: It may even have been possible to airbrush paintings on the ceiling using this method, with a little ingenuity.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2012 Airbrush from Altamira 22 000 - 13 500 BP. Wing or leg bone of a bird (a bird of prey or wader) cut in half to create hollow tubes of the same size, used to blow a spray of paint droplets. Length: 55.50 mm Photo: Altamira National Museum and Research Centre © Ministry of Culture, Bone sewing needles from Altamira 13 500 - 11 000 BP. This Palaeolithic invention had the same purpose as the current tool: to make clothes, shoes or hats. With parallel grooves made with a burin, thin rods were extracted from the bone which later were perforated and polished on stone to make needles. The smallest ones, with a 2 mm diameter and an eye, prove how well they tanned skins to make clothes, and how thin the thread was, which was probably made of animal tendon. Photo: Altamira National Museum and Research Centre © Ministry of Culture, Antler harpoons from Altamira, during the Magdalenian era.

Used to catch fish, especially salmon, and perhaps to hunt other animals as well. Made of deer antler, with either one or two rows of teeth. Different types of spears were developed to attach these points to, and different ways of attaching them were developed as well. Note the hole in one of them, this was used to attach a cord so that when the harpoon detached from the spear, the fish could still be hauled in. The simplified designs with one row of teeth was made on the flat side of a large bone, and were easier and faster to make, and just as effective. 13 500 - 11 500 BP. Photo and text: Altamira National Museum and Research Centre © Ministry of Culture, Engraving on a perforated baton, 10 310 BP. Made from the tip of a deer horn, with a magnificent stag engraved on it. This was used to straighten either spears or pieces of antler (after heating, or boiling in water) in order to eliminate the natural curve before making the heads of spears or harpoons.

Length 246 mm Thickness: 45 mm Photo and text: Altamira National Museum and Research Centre © Ministry of Culture, This is the best example of making the most of the support and natural materials when painting on Palaeolithic caves. This bison, apparently lying on the ground, or leaping forward in a magnificent charge against an adversary was painted using a natural bump in the ceiling. The cracks on the wall were used to outline its head and body, forcing its posture a little, with the head between the front legs. This technique which involves making the most of the natural support is quite similar to what important 20th century avant-garde artists would do later on. (I think of this as the 'Leaping Bison', but perhaps it is curled up in death - Don ) Photo and text: Altamira National Museum and Research Centre © Ministry of Culture, Another version of this wonderful work. Photo: Head of a bison in black. Photo: BIson, another version of the one above. Photo: Black bison. This has been drawn with charcoal, just as modern artists do.

The carbon 14 dating gives a date of 13 000 BP, which is just before the cave collapsed, sealing it until modern times. After drawing with charcoal, the lines were smudged to give the figure volume on the hump and belly, but with a firm and intense stroke on the front legs. Photo: Altamira National Museum and Research Centre © Ministry of Culture, © Pedro Saura Handprints were created by blowing ochre mixed with water over the hands, leading to the effect shown here. Photo: This handprint was obtained by smearing ochre and water on the hand, and then pressing it on the wall. Both techniques were widely practised by ice age hunters. Photo: Burins from Altamira. The burins were made on flint flakes, with the end truncated to get a sharp, chisel like point. They were used to engrave limestone, bone, or antler. For bone, a deep groove was made, which was gone over again and again with the burin until a thin rod could be extracted to make a point for a spear or a long thin piece of bone for a needle.

They were also used to engrave art works on tools and other objects, and to engrave the outlines of animals on cave walls before infilling with ochre and charcoal. Photo: National Museum and Research Center of Altamira © Ministry of Culture Flint spearhead. The shape and technique of pressure retouch stamps this as being from the Solutrean. The flint was probably heat treated to facilitate the pressure flaking. The entire surface has been retouched. The base on the left appears to have been worked into a shouldered or tanged shape to make attachment to a spear shaft easier. (Note that the tip on the right of the spear head has been broken off. It would originally have come to a superbly finished point at the end. The hunter must have been sad to see such a beautiful piece ruined. Making a superb piece of work like this required high skill and a lot of time - Don ) Dimensions: Length 62.41 mm, width 19.30 mm, thickness 6.13 mm.

Date: 18 500 BP Photo: © Pedro Saura, Altamira National Museum and Research Centre © Ministry of Culture, During the Upper Palaeolithic, spearheads which could be thrown with the hand or with a spear thrower or atlatl were often made of deer horn. Bone and antlers are tough, and have a long life, even though they are not as sharp as a flint point. During the Magdalenian era (the last cultural period of the Upper Palaeolithic) they were the main instrument used to hunt animals, although the systems to attach them onto a handle changed over time. The base, with bevelled edges, would be used to fix the head onto the wooden handle. The engraved marks would enable a better grip for adhesion of the resin or glue mixture used to join the piece to the wooden part, and would be reinforced with cord made of plant fibres or tendon. Like harpoons, they sometimes had engraved decorations or signs.

Date: 16 000 BP - 14 000 BP Photo: Altamira National Museum and Research Centre © Ministry of Culture, This flint point, carved in the shape of a willow leaf, belongs to the Solutrean period of the upper Palaeolithic era. The piece is finely flaked in order to obtain a symmetrical shape similar to a willow leaf. It would have been attached to the end of a wooden shaft by means of resins and vegetable or sinews and then used as a projectile weapon. The shape of this type of point, together with the details of its flaking techniques, offer clues to its chronology and the specific cultural and territorial context to which it belongs. Dimensions: length 79 mm, width 22 mm, thickness 7 mm Date: 22 000 BP - 14 000 BP Photo: Altamira National Museum and Research Centre © Ministry of Culture, Head of a deer. This image is not in the same room as the polychromatic bison on the main ceiling, but in a chamber deeper in the cave. The head has been outlined in black, without any further shading.

Photo: Guinea (2011) This face is only seen after going to the end of the cave, and starting back. It looks like a natural feature of the walls, but was known to the painters, and no doubt had great significance. One 'eye' of the face has been outlined in black. Photo: Photo: Leroi-Gourhan (1973) Doe's head made on a flat bone which has been cut to create the shape of the animal. The nose, the mouth, the eye with the tear duct, and the hair of the neck and face have been engraved with a burin. The ears are filled in with a network of lines. We can imagine that in the lost part of the object there was a hole to hang it from a piece of cord or to sew it onto clothes. Aside from its specific use, because of its quality and meticulous finish it must have been especially symbolic and important. Dimensions: Length 93 mm, width 30 mm, thickness 5 mm. Date: 16 000 - 14 000 BP.

Photo: © Pedro Saura, Altamira National Museum and Research Centre © Ministry of Culture, Perforated bone plates with parallel marks on the rim. Four plates made by cutting and polishing a horse's hyoid bone (the bone that supports the larynx). They are perforated to be used as pendants or to sew onto clothes. They were discovered together forming a group or series; each one had thirty marks at either side. They may represent a recurrent event or something that has been observed, or the verification of something important such as the moon or menstrual cycle, like a notebook. In any case, they would be more symbolic and purposeful than decorative and casual. (Note that they may well have been bullroarers, and the holes would have allowed the attachment of a long cord, which was than used to whirl a plate around the head, making a roaring noise - Don ) Date: 20 000 - 16 000 BP. Photo: © Pedro Saura, Altamira National Museum and Research Centre © Ministry of Culture, Bison. Although these photos are of the same depiction of a bison, they may be of the facsimile of Altamira near Santillana del Mar.

Photo: (left) Signs at Altamira. These are in the terminal gallery known as the "Cola de caballo" (Horse tail). It is a very narrow passageway 50 metres long with a number of different signs. Photo: Text: Translated and adapted from: Tectiformes at Altamira. Photo: Jennifer Tanabe A close up view of part of the tectiformes above, found in the terminal gallery known as the "Cola de caballo" (Horse tail). Photo: These tectiformes are in a gallery only one metre high by one metre wide, in the deepest part of the cave, the "Cola de caballo" (Horse tail). Cultural motivations brought people there at different times to draw and engrave these signs, 250 metres from the entrance. They entered the cave with wooden torches or fat lamps to be able to draw this group of reticulated (net shaped) signs, strictly compartmentalised and repeated next to the most prominent crack in this deep gallery. Photo: Altamira National Museum and Research Centre © Ministry of Culture, Wild boar near the entrance.

Length: 1.65 meters from the base of the tail to the snout. The animal is quite fuzzy 'and damaged ' - according to Breuil - 'by the decomposition of the rock surface due to the condensation of water vapor from the outside air that enters the cave '. Breuil also says that by being near the entrance it has deteriorated, 'especially since 1902 '. The animal is in the act of jumping, with forelegs elevated and forward. There is hardly any shading with ochre, with just black smudging to indicate the body of the animal. The hind legs and the lower abdomen have been engraved, and much of the interior of the figure has been scraped back. (Note that Bahn (1999) states quite categorically that this is a bison. - Don ) Photo: Text: Translated and adapted from Guinea (2011) Eight legged wild boar, presumably to show the running animal, though conceivably it could be one animal painted on top of another. This bears the unmistakable style of a Breuil painting, though this is unacknowledged in the source. Photo: Deer, and part of a small horse.

Photo: Ernesto Lazo via Picasa A horse in red, an ibex and a hand. These match the art from the Gravettian era, the earliest era with human presence in the cave. (to me this horse is similar to the art of Lascaux, which is from a later period - Don ) The horse's silhouette is filled in with red. Next to it there is the shape of a hand on the rock and an ibex drawn with simple lines. The ceiling was filled initially with red figures, especially horses. Then, many does and a few deer were engraved next to some figures that are shaped more like humans. Later on, polychrome bison (also a doe and a horse) covered the ceiling almost entirely. And finally, some bison, completed only in black, took up the remaining free space just before the cave stayed completely dark when the entrance collapsed. Photo and text: © Pedro Saura, Altamira National Museum and Research Centre, © Ministry of Culture, This is shows the image above in context, with other horses around it, apparently contorted out of shape. Note the two negative imprints of hands in black, superimposed over other images.

Photo: © Pedro Saura, Altamira National Museum and Research Centre, © Ministry of Culture, Bison. Head and neck of a polychrome hind. Below, on the right, small bison in outline. From the picture gallery, Altamira. Length of hind: 7 ft 4.5 inches, 2250 mm. The complete hind at Altamira. Photo: Another version of the hind at Altamira. Photo: Photo: Lasheras (ca 2008) Horse. (Perhaps this image has been degraded by time, but to my eyes this seems an amateurish rendition - Don ) Horses on the ceiling, incompletely outlined in black. Photo: Ceiling at Altamira. Length about 45.5 feet Photo: 1911 Encyclopaedia Brittanica Horse and hind from Altamira, at the top left of the image above. Photo: After a drawing by Abbé Breuil Replica of the Altamira ceiling, at the Museo Arqueológico Nacional de España Photo: José-Manuel Benito Photo: Corruchaga et al.

(2003) This replica of Altamira as shown during the reproduction of the paintings re-creates the original cavern space as it was during Palaeolithic habitation rather than as it is today: that is, natural rock falls, supporting walls, paths, and other arrangements made in modern times have been suppressed. By applying computerised modelling to the cave’s topography, more than 40 000 sample points per square metre were measured and shaped; the reproduction has an accuracy of one millimetre. The paintings have been reproduced using the same techniques and natural pigments employed by Palaeolithic artists. Thus high technology and artisan techniques were combined to achieve the best results. This high-quality alternative to visiting the original cave does not compromise preservation of the original, yet it allows it to be known with absolute fidelity. It is an 'open book' about Altamira based on scientific data and an original museological concept based on quality and singularity. The new museum provides an interesting opportunity for everyone to experience this heritage, and it allows Altamira to be shown without restriction to a larger number of visitors.

More than one million people have visited the new Museum of Altamira since 2001; the number of visitors is expected to stabilise at over 200 000 per year, which is more than the number that came to the original cave during the 1970s. Photo: Corruchaga et al. (2003) The Neocave vestibule. This shows the way the cave would have looked when scientists first started to make excavations in the well lit and relatively warm refuge from ice age conditions enjoyed by the previous inhabitants. Photo: Ernesto Lazo via Picasa BIson. Photo: Ernesto Lazo via Picasa Ceiling at Altamira. Another view of the ceiling at Altamira. Photo: The Bird Men of Altamira Bird-man of Altamira, L'homme-oiseau, un des sorciers de la grotte. This drawing was made originally by H. Breuil. Photo: (originally from Abramova (1995) ) I have been unable to find more than fleeting references, and a few drawings, of the hommes-oiseau of Altamira. The Lascaux version is well documented.

Here is one of the few text references, from Groenen (2011) : L’homme-oiseau a été repéré dans la scène du Puits de la grotte de Lascaux, sur le Grand Plafond de la grotte cantabrique d’Altamira et dans la grotte d’Addaura en Sicile. À Lascaux et à Altamira, le motif articule une tête d’oiseau, bien reconnaissable à son bec, à un corps, aux bras et aux jambes d’un être humain. En outre, le sexe, masculin, est en érection. The bird-man has been spotted in the scene of the Well of the Lascaux cave, on the Great ceiling of the cave of Altamira and at the Cantabrian cave of Addaura in Sicily. At Lascaux and Altamira, the pattern shows a bird's head, easily recognisable by its beak, a body, arms and legs of a human being. In addition, the penis on the masculine figure is erect. Another version of one of the figures from Altamira.

A view near the cave entrance, which is under trees on the skyline in the centre of the photograph. To the right, the ground drops down to the valley of the river Saja. Photo from "Secrets of the Ice Age" by Evan Hadingham. The following is condensed and adapted from 'Cro-Magnon Man' by T. Prideaux: In 1868 a hunter's dog chased a fox across hilly countryside about 15 miles inland from the port of Santander on the Atlantic coast of Spain. The dog fell among some boulders. When the hunter rescued the dog, he saw the entrance to a cave. Don Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola's daughter Maria The owner of the estate was a Spanish Nobleman and amateur archeologist, Don Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola (1831 - 88). The paintings were not discovered until November 1879 when the Don's daughter Maria, aged 5 to 9 years old, looked up from where the Don was digging for tools, and saw a herd of red animals spread across the ceiling. 'Mira, Papa, bueyes!' (Look, Papa, oxen!) she exclaimed.

Don Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola. Photo: Maria Sautuola. In 1879, Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola made ​​a return visit to the cave to collect more flints and tools, this time accompanied by his young daughter Maria Justina, eight years old. While Don Marcelino inspected the floor and walls, the girl, staring at the ceiling, famously declared: 'Dad, look! Painted Oxen!' Sautuola froze, enraptured with the pictures that his daughter had just revealed. Immediately, he was aware of the importance of the find. At first, the news was received with many doubts and misgivings among French prehistorians, who considered that they were fakes, despite the evidence, However, years later they admitted the authenticity of these findings. It was the same Henri Breuil who later defined it instead as the 'Sistine Chapel of Paleolithic art.' Photo: Photo: Bahn (1998) At first the discovery was pooh poohed by the academic establishment. They thought it could not be more than 20 years old.

It was not until 1902, long after the Don's death in 1888, that the article 'Mea Culpa d'un Sceptique' was published by Emile Cartailhac, formerly one of Altamira's greatest critics. In 1903 he invited a young French priest, Henri Breuil, to go with him to Altamira. Breuil began making copies of the paintings, and these made the world aware of the treasures in the cave. The main picture gallery is only 60 feet long, and 27 to 30 feet wide, with an oppressively low ceiling. No wonder the artists decided to paint it instead of the walls. The colours have lasted because they were made from permanent natural earth pigments which are minerals, and do not decay. The iron minerals give the reds, yellow and browns, while manganese dioxide gives the blacks. They were 'fixed' by mixing them with blood, animal fat, urine, fish glue, egg white or vegetable juices. For forty years it was the world's foremost showplace of historic art, until its replacement in this respect by the cave of Lascaux.

Photo: Bahn (1998) Henri Breuil (1877 - 1961). Although he trained as a priest in his youth, and remained a priest till he died, he never practised his profession. Instead he was allowed by the church hierarchy to devote his whole life to the study of prehistory. He was the son of a lawyer, and was guided in his studies by a teacher at the seminary who expounded the theory of evolution to him, and lent him books by Gabriel de Motillet, the anticlerical prehistorian. Photo: Secrets of the Ice Age by Evan Hadingham, 1980 Left, the Abbé Breuil (wearing cassock) photographed at El Castillo, northern Spain, in July 1909, with his patron, the Prince of Monaco (sitting at right). Breuil had a talent for drawing animals, and was co-opted by prehistorians to help with the illustration of paleolithic portable and cave art. He became the world's leading authority on paleolithic art until his death. He spent about 700 days of his life underground, exploring and painting.

In some cases his drawings and tracings are the only record left of paintings that have since faded or disappeared. Bison at Altamira Photo: J. Powell 'Ancient Art' He saw cave art as collections of single images of hunting magic, unlike Leroi-Gourhan who saw them as carefully planned compositions. However his stature was such that it has only recently become possible in France to criticise his work openly. A short campaign of excavations was conducted at the Altamira site from 30 December 1980 through 12 January 1981. Their aim was the verification and possible refinement of the stratigraphic sequence reported by earlier workers, gathering a large enough sample of artefacts from intact Magdalenian deposits for reliable identification of the industrial phases represented, and the recovery of substantial samples of faunal remains, pollen, and organic matter for radiometric dating. This is a profile of the Magdalanian deposits exposed on the North wall. Freeman (1988) writes: The excavations were planned to take best advantage of the clearest intact stratigraphy available.

Previous excavators had removed a great deal of the sediment from the area of the vestibule known as the 'Cocina' (Kitchen ), but the North wall of the vestibule to the East of the stairway was still intact and suitable for our purposes. The flowstone that originally covered the floor of the vestibule was still present over the two and a half to three meters closest to the limestone cave wall. Perhaps because of the increasing thickness of that flowstone, that part of the sediments had been respected as a sort of witness section. A grid of 1 metre squares was laid out to approximately coincide with the witness section. Each North-South column of squares was given a letter designation, and each East-West row a number. The squares actually opened during our limited field work are the partial squares K8- M8 and the complete squares K9-N9. Though the area we were able to excavate in the limited time available was extremely restricted, the archeological content of the deposits was very rich, and stratigraphy clear enough that we were able to meet major goals for clarification of stratigraphy and securing adequate samples of materials from the Magdalenian deposits established at the outset of our work.

Substantial numbers of bone tools, particularly sagaies, 106 retouched stone tools, and a relatively large sample of biotic material were recovered from the Magdalenian level, which proved to be a single, probably relatively short-term, though laterally differentiated occupation horizon. Papers by Gonzalez Echegaray, Bernaldo de Quiros and Cabrera in this volume discuss the recovered artefacts in more detail. We recovered matter for another carbon-14 date of 15.910 ± 230 B.P. (1-12012) on Magdalenian Level 2 (in substantial agreement with the date of 15.500 ± 700 B.P. provided years ago by the University of Michigan), and took eight pollen samples that are now being processed. Further research is, however, still needed to gather comparable information from the Solutrean and pre-Solutrean deposits.

Photo and text: Freeman (1988) The term 'Cocina' (Kitchen ) traditionally applied to this area is entirely appropriate for the activities attested by recovered residues, which are overwhelmingly the remains of processes of food preparation and the disposal of the garbage from meals. The bulk of the remains is shell, predominantly from the genus Patella. The Magdalenian deposits form a true shell midden like that at El Juyo. Faunal remains have been examined by Richard Klein of the University of Chicago. He identified remains of 14 red deer, 2 bison, 3 roe deer, 1 horse, 1 bear, 1 fox and 1 wolf ( Freeman et al., 1988 ). The list includes all the animals prominently depicted in Altamira's cave art. Salmon, traces of other fish, and bird remains were also recovered, as were thousands of limpet shells (genus Patella), of comparatively large sizes. The distribution of most kinds of residues was spatially patterned. For example, there are localised concentrations of cervid (deer) vertebrae, specific stone tool types, and antler sagaies (spear points).

Photo: A group of common limpets (Patella vulgata) in Pembrokeshire, Wales, 27 June 2006. Source: Tango22 Permission: GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 Patella vulgata specimens from the Solutrean level at Altamira. (H. Obermaier´s excavations). Patella vulgata, colloquially known as the common limpet or Common European Limpet is an edible species of sea snail with gills, a typical true limpet, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Patellidae. It is endemic to the waters off western Europe. Text: adapted from Wikipedia Littorina littorea specimens from the Solutrean level at Altamira (H. Obermaier´s excavations). The common periwinkle or winkle, scientific name Littorina littorea, is a species of small edible sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk which has gills and an operculum, and is classified within the family Littorinidae, the periwinkles.

This is a robust intertidal species with a dark and sometimes banded shell. It lives on the rocky shores of the North Atlantic Ocean, along the coasts of northern Spain, Scotland, Ireland, Scandinavia and Russia. The common periwinkle is mainly found on rocky shores in the higher and middle intertidal zone. It sometimes lives in small tide pools. It may also be found in muddy habitats such as estuaries. Littorina littorea is an omnivorous, grazing intertidal gastropod. The common periwinkle is primarily an algae grazer, but will feed on small invertebrates such as barnacle larvae. They use their radula to scrape algae from rocks, and, in the salt marsh community, pick up algae from the cord grass, or from the biofilm that covers the surface of mud in estuaries or bays. This species appears in prehistoric shellfish middens throughout Europe, and is therefore known to have been an important source of food since at least 7500 BC in Scotland. It is still collected in huge quantities in Scotland, mostly for export to the Continent, and also consumed locally.

The official landings figures for Scotland indicate that over 2,000 tonnes of winkles are exported annually. This makes winkles the sixth most important shellfish harvested in Scotland in terms of tonnage, and seventh most important in terms of value. However, since actual harvests are probably twice reported levels, the species may actually be the fourth and sixth most important, respectively. They are usually picked off the rocks by hand or caught in a drag from a boat. They are eaten in Great Britain and Ireland where they are commonly referred to as winkles or in some areas willicks or wilks, and in Belgium where they are called crickles. They are commonly sold in paper bags near beaches in Ireland, salted and with a pin attached to the bag to enable the extraction of the soft parts from the shell. Periwinkles are considered a delicacy in African and Asian cuisine. The meat is high in protein and low in fat. Periwinkles are also used as bait for catching small fish. The shell is usually crushed and the soft parts extracted and put on a hook.

Photo: Lasheras (ca 2008) Since 2004 the Museum of Altamira has been revising and analysing the stratigraphic sequence revealed by the previous excavations and eight strata have been distinguished: five correspond to the Magdalenian, with 50/70 cms of total thickness and with a timeframe varying between 14 070 BP and 15 580 BP and two Solutrean levels of 20/30 cms thickness and dates of between 17,200 BP and 19,630 BP. The main innovation lies in the detection of a basal level, well differentiated, but unseen before our work, from which two dates of 21 930 BP and 21 910 BP have been obtained, which correspond to the Gravettian. This extension in the period of human occupation is something that must be related to the art of the cave, and some of the figures and signs. Bison bonasus, European Bison or Wisent.

Wisent in the Wisentgehege Springe game park near Springe, Hanover, Germany The wisent, also known as the European bison or European wood bison, is a species of Eurasian bison. It is the heaviest surviving land animal in Europe; a typical wisent is about 2.1 to 3.5 m (7 to 10 ft) long, not counting a tail of 30 to 60 cm (12 to 24 in) long, and 1.6 to 2 m (5 to 7 ft) tall. Weight typically can range from 300 to 920 kg (660 to 2,000 lb), with an occasional big bull to 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) or more. It averages slightly lighter in weight that the American Bison (Bison bison), and has shorter hair on the neck, head and forequarters, but longer tail and horns.

Wisent were hunted to extinction in the wild, but they survived in Białowieża Forest, straddling the border between Belarus and Poland, until the 1920s and have since been reintroduced from captivity into several countries in Eastern Europe, all descendants of the Białowieża or lowland wisent. They are now forest-dwelling. They have few predators (besides humans), with only scattered reports from the 19th century of wolf and bear predation. Wisent were first scientifically described by Carolus Linnaeus in 1758. Some later descriptions treat the wisent as conspecific with the American bison. It is not to be confused with the aurochs, the extinct ancestor of domestic cattle. In 1996 the IUCN classified the wisent as an endangered species. It has since been downgraded to a vulnerable species. In the past it was commonly killed to produce hides and drinking horns, especially during the Middle Ages. Photo: Michael Gäbler Permission: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Text: Adapted from Wikipedia Bison bison, North American Bison.

The American bison (Bison bison), also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds. Their range once roughly comprised a triangle between the Great Bear Lake in Canada's far northwest, south to the Mexican states of Durango and Nuevo León, and east along the western boundary of the Appalachian Mountains. Because of commercial hunting and slaughter in the 19th century, the bison nearly went extinct and is today restricted to a few national parks and other reserves. Two subspecies or ecotypes have been described: the plains bison (Bison bison bison), smaller in size and with a more rounded hump, and the wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) – the larger of the two and having a taller, square hump. The wood bison is one of the largest species of bovid in the world, surpassed by only the Italian Chianina, the Asian gaur and wild Asian water buffalo. It is the largest extant land animal in North America.

Photo: Jack Dykinga, USDA Spain to reopen Altamira Caves despite risk of destroying prehistoric paintings - Telegraph Spain Spain to reopen Altamira Caves despite risk of destroying prehistoric paintings Spain's Altamira caves, which contain some of the world's best prehistoric paintings, are to be reopened to the public, despite warnings that human breath will destroy the 20,000-year-old paintings. A drawing from the Altamira Caves Photo: GETTY IMAGES The Altamira cave in northern Spain Photo: AP The ceiling's paintings have been recreated in a local museum Photo: AP By Fiona Govan in Madrid 10:27PM BST 09 Jun 2010 Spain's Culture Ministry announced this week that the site would be reopened from the end of the year, a move scientists said carried "immeasurable" risks. Discovered in 1879, the vast caves in the Cantabria region of northern Spain, dubbed the "Sistine chapel of Paleolithic art", are covered in paintings of herds of European bison, bulls and other animals.

They were first closed in 1977, after scientists discovered that the paintings in red, ochre and black were being damaged by carbon dioxide from the breath of the huge numbers of visitors. Authorities reopened the site in 1982, with tight restrictions on the number of visitors allowed in each year. The waiting list to view the paintings at the caves, which were declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1985, became so long that visitors had to book three years in advance. Related Articles Prehistoric cave paintings took 20,000 years to complete 05 Oct 2008 The caves were finally closed to the public completely in 2002, after scientists detected green mould stains on the fragile masterpieces in the main chamber, a fate that has also befallen prehistoric cave paintings in neighbouring France. Experts blame the deterioration on a change in the fragile atmosphere of the cave caused by a combination of light, visitors' body heat, and moisture from their breath. An exact replica of the caves and its paintings was created within a museum a few hundred feet from the original near the town of Santillana del Mar.

But culture chiefs have now decided to resume visits to the original caves on a restricted basis from the end of this year. In doing so, they will go against the advice of the government's main scientific research body, the CSIC, which has spent years analysing the caves and the paintings. "The people who go in the cave have the bad habit of moving, breathing and perspiring," was one conclusion reached in CSIC report published in April. "We have made it very clear that it should not be reopened at this time," said Sergio Sanchez Moral, director of the team that spent the last two years analysing the caves and treating the problem mould. "The caves have recovered from the damage, but to open them again is not a good idea. The risks are immeasurable." Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde, Spain's minister of culture, announced the reopening on Tuesday and said a committee would be formed to decide what restrictions should be placed to minimise the risk of damage. The move was immediately welcomed by Miguel Angel Revilla, the president of the Cantabrian region in northern Spain. "Altamira is an asset we cannot do without," he said before adding that he would invite US President Barack Obama to be the first person to view the caves when they reopened.

"I have already written the invitation letter, and in English," he said. Prehistoric Cave Art of Spain & France (land tour) - Archaeological Institute of America Prehistoric Cave Art of Spain & France (land tour) Dates: Wednesday, September 20, 2017 to Monday, October 2, 2017 (13 Days) Tour Leader: Paul G. Bahn Lascaux replica painting. Photo by Prof Saxx Investigate southwestern Europe’s most extraordinary prehistoric caves, including Lascaux IV, a new, exact reproduction (opening December 2016) of one of the most remarkable prehistoric sites ever discovered; Altamira II, a precise replica of the original that is often called the “Sistine Chapel of Prehistoric Art;” Atapuerca, the most significant early human site in western Europe; Las Monedas Cave and Cueva del Castillo, where 180 animal likenesses were painted some 12,000-14,000 years ago; Cougnac, which features paintings of extinct megaloceros and mammoth; Pech Merle, known for its “negative handprints;” and others.

Travel with world-renowned archaeological author Paul Bahn, a gifted and popular lecturer who regularly leads tours to study the prehistory of Spain and France, including this program. Dr. Bahn will enhance your understanding of the sites with lectures and informal discussions. Tour archaeological and ethnographic museums with superb exhibits of prehistoric artifacts, including the Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos, Altamira Museum, Museum of Les Eyzies, and the Museé d’Aquitaine; plus the modern art collections of Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum. Explore charming villages and cities, including Santillana del Mar and San Sebastian. Enjoy excellent accommodations in fine hotels and charming inns, as well as fine wine and cuisine. $7,445 (15-20 participants) per person double occupancy. $8,195 (10-14 participants) per person double occupancy. $1,025 single supplement (limited availability). UNESCO/NHK Videos on Heritage Seventeen decorated caves of the Paleolithic age were inscribed as an extension to the Altamira Cave, inscribed in 1985.

The property will now appear on the List as Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain. The property represents the apogee of Paleolithic cave art that developed across Europe, from the Urals to the Iberian Peninusula, from 35,000 to 11,000 BC. Because of their deep galleries, isolated from external ... Source: UNESCO TV / © NHK Nippon Hoso Kyokai URL: Altamira open 'lucky visitor lottery' despite experts fears for cave art - Telegraph Spain Altamira open 'lucky visitor lottery' despite experts' fears for cave art Spain's Altamira caves will re-open on April 17 for five people to visit one day every week, for strictly-timed 37 minute trips inside Prehistoric art inside the Altamira caves Photo: The Art Archive / Alamy By James Badcock, Madrid 5:24PM BST 06 Apr 2015 A series of caves in Spain , famed for their prehistoric art, is to be thrown open to visitors – despite frenzied protests from a number of experts in cave painting.

The board of trustees of the Altamira caves has decided that a year-long experimental period of weekly visits, which saw 250 people gain access to the 20,000-year-old paintings, has not had "any impact on the conditions inside the cave". Ignacio Diego, a board member at Altamira as he is premier of the Cantabria region in which Altamira is situated, said the trustees had decided to continue the experiment indefinitely. It initially ran from February 2014 to February this year. Other board members include Spain's culture minister and Ana Patricia Botin, chairwoman of the Santander banking group. The visits will begin next week, with five people being chosen at random from among the audience at the Altamira museum. The visitors will be ushered in to the caves, accompanied by two guides, for a visit which lasts 37 minutes, including a strictly-limited 10 minute stay in the part of the cave which contains the paintings. The paintings depict bison, deer and boars, among other animals.

The limit of 37 minutes, which is broken down into strictly controlled intervals in different parts of the complex including just 10 minutes in the main painted cave, is a result of protocols laid down by scientists who have carried out research at Altamira. According to the culture ministry, it is the optimum time limit to "prevent risks from temperature change, humidity and the creation of microorganisms whether by a team of scientists or a controlled visit". Altamira's caves were first closed in 1977, with limited public access resuming in 1982 before what many had expected to be the definitive shutdown in 2002. The caves were closed after scientists detected the presence of phototrophic bacteria, organisms which acquire energy from light. World's Oldest Cave Art Found—Made by Neanderthals? World's Oldest Cave Art Found—Made by Neanderthals? "It adds to evidence Neanderthals were not a distinct species," archaeologist says. View Images In El Castillo cave, hand stencils join a red disk (not pictured) that may be Earth's oldest cave art.

Photograph courtesy Pedro Saura via Science/AAAS Prehistoric dots and crimson hand stencils on Spanish cave walls are now the world's oldest known cave art, according to new dating results—perhaps the best evidence yet that Neanderthals were Earth's first cave painters. Related Content Inside the Operating Room for Awake Brain Surgery If that's the case, the discovery narrows the cultural distance between us and Neanderthals—and fuels the argument, at least for one scientist, that the heavy-browed humans were not a separate species but only another race. Of the 11 subterranean sites the team studied along northern Spain 's Cantabrian Sea coast, the cave called El Castillo had the oldest paintings—the oldest being a simple red disk. At more than 40,800 years old, "this is currently Europe's oldest dated art by at least 4,000 years," said the study's lead author Alistair Pike , an archaeologist at the University of Bristol in the U.K.

If the new dates are correct, they also could make the El Castillo art the oldest known well-dated cave paintings in the world—a title previously held by France 's Chauvet cave paintings, believed to be at least 37,000 years old. Pike's team teased out the new dates using a method that relies on known rates of decay in uranium—specifically uranium in calcium deposits that had formed over the paint. The mineral-based paint itself couldn't be dated, because it contains neither uranium nor the carbon needed for radiocarbon dating. In several cases, the Spanish artwork proved older than previously estimated based on indirect methods, such as stylistic comparisons with paintings at better dated sites, according to the study, published today by the journal Science . (See pictures of a reconstructed Neanderthal and take a Neanderthals quiz .) The Dating Game The new dates raise the possibility that some of the paintings could have been made by Neanderthals, who are thought to have lived in Europe until about 30,000 or 40,000 years ago. Modern humans are believed to have also been in the area at the time, arriving about 41,500 years ago.

(Related: "Neanderthals' Last Stand Was in Gibraltar, Study Suggests." ) The findings wouldn't be the first potential evidence of Neanderthal cave art. Earlier this year, archeologists found what they consider to be 42,000-year-old Neanderthal cave paintings in Málaga, Spain. But that evidence is controversial, according to Pike. "They dated some charcoal from the floor of the cave, and then they extrapolated it" to the paintings, Pike said. "All that shows is that someone lit a fire in the cave 42,000 years ago, but they've linked it to the paintings. And we think that's absolutely mad." Cave-art expert Michel Lorblanchet doesn't think Pike's proof is exactly ironclad either. More evidence, he said, would be needed to firmly establish that some of the Spanish cave paintings were products of Neanderthal minds. "I am one of the people who are waiting for objective evidence of painting made by Neanderthal as well as Homo sapiens," said Lorblanchet, a professor emeritus at the University of Toulouse in France.

"But to date a painting around 40,000 [years ago] does not prove that it was made by Neanderthals." Study leader Pike, though, pointed out that the new dates are minimum ages only. "The calcite could have formed many thousands of years after the art was painted," he said. "But I agree we will need to date more paintings to prove conclusively these were done by Neanderthals, and we are currently sampling more of the art to see ... I think in the next few years we'll actually prove this." The Case for Neanderthal Art Many scientists had long doubted whether Neanderthals were capable of producing symbolic art. But that's begun to change in recent years, thanks in part to the discovery of pigments, tiny art objects, and what might be body paint at Neanderthal sites, according to Paul Bahn , a cave art expert and a member of the Archaeological Institute of America. "There remains a rump of blinkered scholars who still consider Neanderthals to be brutish savages, little better than animals, but fortunately they are a dwindling minority," Bahn, who was not involved in the study, said in an email.

"I think almost all objective scholars now fully accept Neanderthal art." Study co-author João Zilhão goes a step further, suggesting that, if Neanderthals were responsible for some of the Spanish cave art, then perhaps there's no real distinction between them and modern humans. "It adds to the evidence ... that Neanderthals were a European racial variant of Homo sapiens, not a distinct species," said Zilhão, of the University of Barcelona. At the very least, study leader Pike said, the new findings help narrow the distance between the cultural evolution of Neanderthals and modern humans. "If you look at the [modern human] trajectory towards art, we find shell beads, bits of ochre, and ostrich shells carved with geometric designs from about 70,000 to 100,000 years ago" in Africa , he said. Now, at European sites, "we see that Neanderthals are following the same trajectory. We see shell beads, carved sculptures, and geometric designs on bits of bone. And now we see what might be Neanderthal art."

Question: In which European country are the Altamira cave paintings?
Answer: Spain