Cave of Altamira

Altamira (Spanish for 'high view') is a cave in Spain famous for its Upper Paleolithic cave paintings featuring drawings and coloured paintings of wild mammals and human hands. It is located near the town of Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain, 30 km west of the city of Santander. The cave with its paintings has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Cave of Altamira

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Location	Santillana del Mar, Cantabria, Spain
Part of	Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain
Criteria	Cultural: (iii), (i)
Reference	310-001
Inscription	1985 (9th Session)
Extensions	2008
Buffer zone	16 ha (0.062 sq mi)
Coordinates	43°22′57″N 4°7′13″W

The cave is approximately 300 meters long

Cave Of Altamira Media

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  Bison on the roof of the pit.

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  Association of the animals in the cave of Altamira, by Leroi-Gourhan.

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  Reproduction of the Cave of Altamira in the Deutsches Museum, Munich.

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  A modern interpretation of a bison from the Altamira cave ceiling, one of the cave's most famous paintings.

Further reading

• Curtis, Gregory. 2006. The Cave Painters: probing the mysteries of the world's first artists. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 1-4000-4348-4
• Guthrie, R. Dale. 2006. The nature of prehistoric art. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-31126-0
• McNeill, William H. Secrets of the Cave Paintings, The New York Review of Books, Vol. 53, # 16, October 19, 2006.
• Pike, A.W.G.. U-series dating of Paleolithic art in 11 caves in Spain. Science 336 (6087) (2012). p. 1409–1413. doi:10.1126/science.1219957.

Other websites

• Altamira Cave National Museum In Spanish and English
• The story of Altamira Archived 2007-10-23 at the Wayback Machine
• The website of UNESCO - Cave of Altamira