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ALTAMIRA

The cave of Altamira, located in northern Spain, contains spectacular cave paintings from between 22,000-13,000 years ago. The paintings were discovered in 1868 and further explored in 1875 by archaeologist Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola. The cave contains impressive bison, horses, and other animal paintings, some of the best preserved from the Upper Paleolithic period. The paintings were made using pigments like iron oxide and manganese dioxide applied using bone airbrushes.

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54 views1 page

ALTAMIRA

The cave of Altamira, located in northern Spain, contains spectacular cave paintings from between 22,000-13,000 years ago. The paintings were discovered in 1868 and further explored in 1875 by archaeologist Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola. The cave contains impressive bison, horses, and other animal paintings, some of the best preserved from the Upper Paleolithic period. The paintings were made using pigments like iron oxide and manganese dioxide applied using bone airbrushes.

Uploaded by

Thamiah Izabell Odena
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Altamira Cave

The cave of Altamira, located near the town of Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, northern
Spain, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985.

Having been sealed due to a rock fall, the cave was rediscovered in 1868 by Modesto
Cubillas (hunter.) Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, a local resident who was an amateur
archaeologist, heard of the discovery and visited the cave in 1875. In 1879 he began
exploring the cave in earnest, having become inspired by a recent visit to the 1878 Universal
Exhibition in Paris where he had seen exhibits from the Stone Age.

Archaeological excavations in the cave have revealed Palaeolithic artifacts from the
Gravettian (roughly 22,000 years ago) to the Middle Magdalenian (between roughly 16,500
and 13,000 years ago) The cave was inhabited by different groups of people between these
two periods.

Altamira Cave Paitings

The art throughout the cave of Altamira is impressive, but on the ceiling of the Hall of the
Paintings it becomes truly spectacular.

The paintings and engravings of Altamira were begun during the Aurignacian period, the first
chapter of Upper Palaeolithic art in Europe. 

The Bison, horses, hind, and hand prints inside the Altamira Cave are amongst the best-
preserved paintings worldwide.

Materials used in Cave Paintings

Most cave art consists of paintings made with either red or black pigment. The reds were
made with iron oxides (hematite), whereas manganese dioxide and charcoal were used for
the blacks.

Alcalde del Río found these artifacts in crevices in the cave passage, and thus the lack of
further stratigraphic context prevents any precise dating at this time.

The airbrushes were made from three segments of bones from the leg or wing of a large bird
(a raptor or a wading bird).

Because they exhibit traces of pigment on both outer and inner surfaces, researchers believe
them to be tools used to apply red liquid paint. The bone pieces would have been placed at
right angles to each other; by blowing through one section, the other section would absorb
the paint and spray it outwards.

Resources:
https://www.britannica.com/art/cave-painting
https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2019/01/30/inenglish/1548850297_888022.html
https://www.oldest.org/artliterature/cave-paintings/
https://www.bradshawfoundation.com/spain/altamira/index.php

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