The

Cantabria Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy. It is bordered on the east ...

n caves' unique location make them an ideal place to observe the settlements of early humans thousands of years ago. The magnificent art in the caves includes figures of various animals of the time such as bison,

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

, hands and other paintings. Archaeologists have found remains of animals such as bears, the remains of arrows and other material indicating a human presence; these artifacts are now found mostly in the Regional Museum of Prehistory and Archaeology of Cantabria.

With rock art

Las Aguas

The cave of Las Aguas is located near the town of Novales, in the municipality of Alfoz de Lloredo. This cave contains rock art, including two bison carved and painted in red, a doe, a horse, a clavate (club), a sign on the grill and several more configurations. These remains have been dated to the early or middle Magdalenian period.

Altamira

The

Cave of Altamira The Cave of Altamira (; es, Cueva de Altamira ) is a cave complex, located near the historic town of Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain. It is renowned for prehistoric cave art featuring charcoal drawings and polychrome paintings of contem ...

is located near

Santillana del Mar Santillana del Mar () is a historic town situated in Cantabria, Spain. Its many historic buildings attract thousands of holidaymakers every year. There is an old saying that Santillana del Mar is ''The Town of Three Lies'', since it is neither a ...

. This cave, called the "Sistine Chapel of Quaternary", is relatively small () and contains the rock paintings of sixteen bison, several depictions of deer, the largest of which is tall and of horses. The cave has been included in

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

list of

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

s since 1985.

La Clotilde

The Cave of la Clotilde is located in the town of Santa Isabel de Quijas in the region of

Reocín Reocín is a municipality in Cantabria, Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , nation ...

. Remains suggest that this area was occupied during the Magdalenian period; its cave paintings date from before the Aurignacian period, which include representations of animals and other symbols of unknown nature.

Cualventi

The cave of Cualventi is located in the town of Peralada, in Oreña in the municipality Alfoz of Lloredo dating approximately to the Magdalenian age. Several red spots can be found using the techniques of "buffered" and "spot" to depict a huge bison, goats, deer and horses very similar to the Cave of El Pendo, Cave of Covalanas and other Cantabrian caves.

Cullalvera

Cullalvera Cave is located in the municipality of Ramales de la Victoria, capital of the comarca of Valley of the Asón River. The entry for this cave near the village arises from a Cantabrian oak, and it is part of a karstic complex about in size, in which a multitude of geological forms shaped by water over the course of thousands of years can be found. These forms in conjunction with other prehistoric remains make the cave one of the most visited of the region. Remains of a small reservoir and rock art, both from the Paleolithic have been found here.

Chufín

The

Cave of Chufín The cave of Chufín is located in the town of Riclones in Rionansa (Cantabria), Spain. Situated at the confluence of the Lamasón and Nansa rivers, several caves ornamented with rock art pock the steep slopes above the water. Chufín is one of ...

is located in the village of Riclones. It is located at the confluence point of several rivers and Nansa Lamasón in an environment with steep slopes amongst other caves with rock art. Chufín contains different levels of occupation, the oldest being around 20,000 years old. Even though the cave is small and of profound simplicity it subtle red paintings of deer, goats and cattle which are represented very schematically and a large number of symbols. One group, called "sticks", accompanies the animal paintings inside the cave. There are also a large number of pointillist drawings, including some around each hole in the rock which have been interpreted as a representation of a

vulva The vulva (plural: vulvas or vulvae; derived from Latin for wrapper or covering) consists of the external female sex organs. The vulva includes the mons pubis (or mons veneris), labia majora, labia minora, clitoris, vestibular bulbs, vulv ...

. The cave has been declared a

by UNESCO in 2008.

La Estación

The Cave of La Estación is located near the cave of La Clotilde, in Santa Isabel de Quijas. It is notable for paintings in a large room representing horses and other signs which are not identifiable, dating from about the Aurignacian or

Gravettian The Gravettian was an archaeological industry of the European Upper Paleolithic that succeeded the Aurignacian circa 33,000 years BP. It is archaeologically the last European culture many consider unified, and had mostly disappeared by ...

cultural periods.

La Fuente del Salín

Fuente del Salín Cave is located in the municipality of Val de San Vicente, and contains an archaeological site discovered in 1985. The path is accessible only in times of drought, because it lies along an underground river. The remains are a reservoir belonging mainly to the

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coin ...

, dated to 22,340 years ago by Carbon-14 dating, and also a hearth; rock art and several negative handprint paintings are visible in this room, in addition to positive handprint paintings in other rooms.

La Garma

The Cave of La Garma is located north of the village of Omoño, in the municipality of Ribamontán al Monte. It was found to wall paintings and fossils in a Lower Gallery, one of the best preserved Magdaleinian period floors. It is part of the Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain World Heritage Site.

Hornos de la Peña

The Cave of Hornos de la Peña Cave was discovered in 1903 and is situated on a hill near the village of Tarriba,

San Felices de Buelna San Felices de Buelna is a municipality located in the autonomous community of Cantabria Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad históric ...

. The most notable paintings are a bird-horse-man at the end of the cave; a headless bison, horse and others at various levels in the first room; the second set of 35 figures consists of animals such as horses, bison, aurochs, goats and others. The paintings were dated to the initial or middle Magdalenian period.

El Linar

The cave of El Linar is located in La Busta, a town in the municipality of Alfoz de Lloredo. The path is an arroyo of more than with three mouths which join the stream of Busta. Paleolithic materials have been detected and also remnants of Magdalenian era occupations. In one of the galleries is a group of animalistic motifs recorded as goats, bison and

ibex An ibex (plural ibex, ibexes or ibices) is any of several species of wild goat (genus ''Capra''), distinguished by the male's large recurved horns, which are transversely ridged in front. Ibex are found in Eurasia, North Africa and East Africa ...

. There is also another group of paintings of lines and vulvas and remains of the Bronze Age.

Los Marranos

The Cave of Los Marranos is located in Venta de Fresnedo, in the municipality of Lamasón; to access the cave, one follows a path that leads to two spring mouths. Geologically, it acts as a drain in times of flooding. It has a spacious entry with rock art. Remains of Paleolithic art are represented mainly by carvings in quartzite. a bronze buckle from the late

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

indicates the possibility that the cave could have served as a shelter for travelers. In 2000, it was declared

Bien de Interés Cultural A Bien de Interés Cultural is a category of the heritage register in Spain. The term is also used in Venezuela and other Spanish-speaking countries. The term literally means a "good of cultural interest" (" goods" in the economic sense) and incl ...

by the Spanish Ministry of Law.

La Meaza

The cave of La Meaza is located in the municipality of

Comillas Comillas is a small township and municipality in the northern reaches of Spain, in the autonomous community of Cantabria. The Marquessate of Comillas, a fiefdom of Spanish nobility, holds ceremonial office in the seat of power at a small castle ...

. On the road to the district of La Molina there is a path leading to the cavity. Findings include the remains of

Solutrean The Solutrean industry is a relatively advanced flint tool-making style of the Upper Paleolithic of the Final Gravettian, from around 22,000 to 17,000 BP. Solutrean sites have been found in modern-day France, Spain and Portugal. Details ...

Azilian The Azilian is a Mesolithic industry of the Franco-Cantabrian region of northern Spain and Southern France. It dates approximately 10,000–12,500 years ago. Diagnostic artifacts from the culture include projectile points (microliths with ro ...

and even some so-called Asturien evidence, recent prehistoric burials and remains of the

. The fact that occupancy has many times explained by the shape of the cave, with a wide entrance and a comfortable lobby to your room. At the bottom of the cavity some remains of Paleolithic rock art framed in the style III of Leroi-Gourhan were found, although they have not been kept too well.

Micolón

The Cave of Micolón is an archaeological site on the verge of the Palombera reservoir. It is a cavity of length with a particularly narrow labyrinthine structure, in which some

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

carvings have been found, such as nodules with signs of having been worked on and a chisel. The remains belong to the

occupation period, between 20,000 and 17,000 years old. There are several examples of rock art, including 22 rock carvings and several red paintings, basically framed in a room near the entrance. There are deer, horses and tectiform inscriptions, all style III of

André Leroi-Gourhan André Leroi-Gourhan (; ; 25 August 1911 – 19 February 1986) was a French archaeologist, paleontologist, paleoanthropologist, and anthropologist with an interest in technology and aesthetics and a penchant for philosophical reflection. ...

Monte Castillo

The Caves del Monte Castillo include the

Cave of El Castillo The Cueva del Castillo, or Cave of the Castle, is an archaeological site within the complex of the Caves of Monte Castillo, in Puente Viesgo, Cantabria, Spain. The archaeological stratigraphy has been divided into around 19 layers, dependin ...

, the Cave of Las Chimeneas, the Cave of Las Monedas and the

Cave of La Pasiega Cueva de La Pasiega, or Cave of La Pasiega, situated in the Spanish municipality of Puente Viesgo, is one of the most important monuments of Paleolithic art in Cantabria. It is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since July 2008, as part ...

La Pasiega

The

located in Puente Viesgo is included in the UNESCO schedule of Human Heritage since July 2008, under the citation "Cave of Altamira".

Porquerizo

The Cave del Porquerizo is in the town of Celis, in the municipality of Rionansa. It is reached by a path leading up from the center of town, which then traverses down a steep slope. There are remnants of the cave's occupation from the

era, as well as Paleolithic cave paintings, dating between 20,000 and 17,000 years old. There are some rock paintings, in a red pinpoint style, and some indistinct carvings. Its context and its morphology have been classified as a style of Leroi-Gourhan III.

El Portillo

The cave of El Portillo del Arenal is located in the village of Velo, in the municipality of Piélagos. It contains well-preserved rock art, in addition to pottery fragments and funerary urns.

Sovilla

The Cave of Sovilla is located in the neighborhood of the same name in

and near the cave of Hornos de la Peña. It is characterized mainly by wall paintings that show deer, horses, bison and reindeer from the Magdalenian period.

Others

Without rock art

La Chora

The La Chora Cave is located in San Pantaleon de Aras and includes a number of

chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a ...

items as well as flint blades and scraper backs and Magdalenian bone harpoons.

Morín

Morín Cave or "Cave of the King" is in Villaescusa. Archaeologists have found many items of interest in this site, such as the famous body cast of the so-called "Man of Morín" dating from the Middle Paleolithic. Thanks to the artifacts found in this cave, archaeologists have been able to study the habits of earlier

hominids The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); ''Gorilla'' (the ...

Ruso

Cave of Ruso was discovered in Igollo, Camargo and provided materials from the Paleolithic and

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

which were, as is traditional, moved to the Museum of Prehistory of Santander. There were several ceramic items in the classic

beaker culture The Bell Beaker culture, also known as the Bell Beaker complex or Bell Beaker phenomenon, is an archaeological culture named after the inverted-bell beaker drinking vessel used at the very beginning of the European Bronze Age. Arising from a ...

bell shape and the point of a retouched planar object. The Cave of Juyo has a long sequence of Magdalenian artifacts, though no rock art.

El Soplao

The Cave of El Soplao is located in the municipalities of Rionansa, Valdáliga and Herrerías. It is admired worldwide for the quality and quantity of geological formations or

speleothems A speleothem (; ) is a geological formation by mineral deposits that accumulate over time in natural caves. Speleothems most commonly form in calcareous caves due to carbonate dissolution reactions. They can take a variety of forms, depending on ...

contained in its 17 miles in length, although only 6 are open to the public. There are rare formations as helictites (eccentric stalactites defying gravity) and "draperies" (sheets or translucent banners hanging from the ceiling). Its formation dates back to the Mesozoic, in particular the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

period 240 million years ago.

Torca del Carlista

Torca del Carlista is located in

, and contains the fifth-largest underground chamber in the world. Baston cueva del Valle

Del Valle

The Cave del Valle is located in the municipality of

Rasines Rasines is a municipality located in the autonomous community of Cantabria Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a histo ...

and also known by locals as "La Viejarrona." It has a majestic entry from which the Silent River springs, a tributary of Ruahermosa, both of

Assos Assos (; grc-gre, Ἄσσος, la, Assus) is a beautiful small and historically important town on the Aegean coast in the Ayvacık district of Çanakkale province, Turkey. It is on the southern side of Biga Peninsula (better known by its anc ...

. It is an important site, both prehistorically as well as speleologically; it dates to about the

and Upper Magdalenian.

Chronology of discoveries

References

External links

Human Timeline (Interactive)
– Smithsonian,

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...

(August 2016). {{coord missing, Spain Archaeological sites in Spain Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in Cantabria Limestone caves Prehistoric sites in Spain Show caves in Spain Stone Age Europe