Cave of Altamira

Cave of Altamira

Culture,Immovable Culture Heritage

The cave of Altamira is a cave complex situated within Northern Spain and contains paleolithic cave art. It is one of the seven caves within Northern Spain which have been collectively classified as a world heritage site, ‘Cave of Altamira and Palaeolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain’. The Altamira cave was re-discovered in 1868, being the first site with paleolithic cave art within Europe to be discovered in the modern era (Dowson, 2022). The oldest painting to be identified within Altamira dates back to 36,000 years ago. When the cave paintings were first discovered in 1880, they were dismissed by prehistorians and classified as forgeries, they were not officially recognized as prehistoric cave art until near the end of the 19th century (Altamira | cave, Spain, 2022). Alongside the paleolithic cave art discovered, when the cave floor was excavated, prehistoric animal bones and stone tools were discovered, furthering the paleolithic insights that the cave provides.

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Unknown

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Site

457

21/04/2022

Centre, U., 2022. Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain. [online] Whc.unesco.org. Available at: [Accessed 21 April 2022]. Dowson, T., 2022. Visiting Altamira: the Cave, the Replica and the Museum. [online] Archaeology Travel. Available at: [Accessed 21 April 2022]. Encyclopedia Britannica. 2022. Altamira | cave, Spain. [online] Available at: [Accessed 21 April 2022].

971 feet longcm x cm x cm

current,43.377452,-4.1245357;

Cave of Altamira

https://www.culturaydeporte.gob.es/mnaltamira/home.html

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cave

39360, Cantabria, Spain

726

public

1

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