Caves of Altamira and the Town of Santillana

A G U 1 DE TO T HE CAVES OF ALTAMIRA AND THE TOWN OF SANTILLANA DEL MAR (PROVINCE OF SANTANDER, SPAIN) SECOND EDITION PUBLISHED BY THE «JUNTA PROTECTORA DE LA CUEVA DE ALTAMIRA> MADRID, 1935 THE CAVES OF ALTAMIRA ANO THE TOWN OF SANTILLANA DEL MAR J A GUIDE TO THE CAVES OF ALTAMIRA AND THE TOWN OF SANTILLANA DEL MAR (PROVINGE OF SANTANDER, SPAIN) SECOND EDITION PUBLISHED BY THE "JUNTA PROTEGTORA DE LA CUEVA DE ALTAMIRA,, MAD RID, 1935 COPYRIGHT BY cJunta protectora de In Cu e~ va de Altnmlra• TALLERES ESPASA-CAJ,PE, s. A., Ríos Ro .i.s, 26.-MADRID THE CAVES OF ALT AMIRA The two Caves of Altamira, situated 20 miles to the West of Santander and 4 1/2 miles to the North West of the station of Torrelavega on the Santander-Oviedo line, lie in the Municipal dis trict of Santillana del Mar, between Torrelavega and Comillas, in the Province of Santander. Both caves lie on high ground of limestone formation a mile and a half to the South West of the town of Santillana, which was once the capital of Eastern Asturias and the interesting monuments of which are described in the second part of this Guide (page 29). The itinerary from Santander to Santillana will be found on page 43, followed by a map. I THE MAIN CA VE CONTAINING PREHISTORIC PAINTINGS Tke cave in prehistori<;. times. The Cave of Altamira, like all caves formed in limestone strata, was fashioned by Nature, whose only tools were the drops ofrain-waterthat filtered through, year after year and century after cen: tury. Percolating throu.gh the crevices of the sur face, the water gradually reacher the lower layers and, by dissolving the lime contained in the rocks, altered both their chemical and physical nature. In this very slow process of dissolu.tion the fissures. widened, channels in the limestone beds were ope ned up and grew into cavities. Thus the cave was formed and, once communication had been esta blished with the ou.tside world, it was ready to ser ve as a refuge for wild beasts, and finally for man. When prehistoric man first set foot inside the cave, the conditions in which those remote an cestors of ours lived were very different from those -10 - of the present day. The whole of our continent was at that time in the grip of an ice age (in geo logical terms, the last glaciation of the quaternary period). The North of Europe lay buried beneath a thick mantle of ice, and from the Alps and Py renees gigantic glaciers spread down, rendering those mountain tanges quite impassable. At that time also the high crags of the Cantabrian Range, the Picos de Europa and Pwos de Oorni/Jn, sent great rivera of ice down their mountain slopes and a narrow strip of coastline alone provided hospi table conditions for the early Cantabrians. This picture of a laJ?.d of brief and cold sum mers and interminable winters would be incom plete without a mention of certain mammals driven to these latitudes by the Northern ice, the mam moth or woolly elephant standing twelve feet high; the woolly rhinoceros; and the reindeer of Green land. The woods, mainly composed of pine and beech, provided food and shelter for deer, includ ing the giant stag; the marmot, wild boar, moun tain goat and chamois. Over the grasslands stretch ing between the patches of dense forest roamed great herds of wild horse, wild cattle and bison akin to those still existing in North America. Hard on their heels, in ceaseless watch, followed the cave-lion, the cave-hyaena and the cave-bear; and ali around prowled the wolf and the lynx. In their midst lived Man. In that remote age, which may be reckoned at - 11 - twenty thou,sand years before Christ, man was ig norant both of agricuhure and the art of domesti cating animals. He did not know how to make u.se of metals nor had he any skill in polishing stone. His stone implements and weapons he fashioned by chipping them with other stones; he showed extraordinary skill, however, in contriving imple ments for certain purposes from the bones, horns and antlers of animals slain in the chase. Prehistoric man was f irst and last a hunter. As su.ch, he had no fixed abode, but lived the uneasy life of a nomad, staying here a while, and there a while, as Nature itself provided; his sojourn would be prolonged if game were abundant, or shortened jf it were scarce, when he would resume his wan derings in search of animal food. On the occasion of one of these great hunting raids along the Cantabrian coast prehistoric man would strike u.pon the Cave of Altamira, to which he would return repeatedly in search of refuge or rest, appropriating to his use the hall lying next the entrance. We may imagine the small horde of hunters seeking shelter from rain and cold and settling down in the gloomy cavern, where they wou.ld set fire to heaped-u.p branches so as to warm themselves, roast their meat and cook their vege tables, and ward off wild animals at night. There also they made their implements, hewn mainly from flint and quartzite. Among the de posits laid down in thick layers are found knives, - 12 - scrapers and other like utensils, all admirably sui ted for flaying and cutting up dead animals, the tendons and long hair of which were used for sew ing. It is surprising to note the extraordinary skill with which man gave a finely pointed shape to pie ces of quartzite intended for spear or arrow heads. Nu.merous implementa of bone or antler have also been fou.nd. The first stage in their manu facture was the separation of a rough splinter, which was then fashioned into the shape of a point, a bodkin, a spatula, etc., and lastly polished. The finely pointed needles of that remote age are so perfectas to be comparable with the steel needles of our time, Nor is there any dou.bt that prehistoric man knew how to work in wood; and specimens of his adornments have come down to us in the shape of teeth or perforated shells, or small discs of bone or stone with decorative stripes. These were most likely amulets or protective talismans. The fre quent occu.rrence of dyes, particulary ochre, fur nishes grou.nd for the belief that these men of pre historic age painted their face or body. All these materials have been fou.nd in profusion in the hall of the Altamira Cave, whence they have been removed to the Museum established in the keeper's house (1). (1) For the guidance of the specialist it should be mentioned that the deposita in the Cave of Altamira cover two periods. The deeper leve! is of the Upper - 13 - These specimens were obtained from the cla:y lay ers of the floor, where they lay mixed with ashes, charcoal, pieces of stone and burnt or broken bones of animals. The fact that these bones are mainly of bison, common stag and wild horse shows that these were the animals chiefly hunted by primitive man. The simplest method of catching bison or wild horses would be by means of concealed pits, made across their habitual tracks and covered with grass or foliage. Large bags might also be secured by beating game, the animals being driven towards gulleys or precipíces and there shot down with bows and arrows or killed in sorne other more or less cruel fashion. Akin to this form of the chase was that of ruthless persecution; a grou.p of hunters would round up the chosen game, especially the pregnant females and young or wounded animals, and, driving them towards unfavourable ground, would harry tb.em until they dropped from sheer exhaustion. An important complement of meat food was ve getable su.stenance in the shape ofberrics and other wild fru.its, seeds and mushrooms. The inhabitants. Solutrean, containing p ointed implements shaped like laurel leaves with a concave base, and, should.ered. points, frequently with a lateral fang. The upper level contains remains of the ancient Magd.alenian culture, such as numerous worked. bones, sorne chieftain's staves or ma gicians' wand.s, and. should.er-bla-0.es with engravings of animals, mainly hind.s. - 14 - of Altamira would frequently cross over to the seashore, only a few miles away, and bring back great quantities of shellfish, particulary limpets., for their womenfolk, children and old roen; this is shown by the abundance of shells found in the cave. Nor are the vertebrae of fish, especially sal mon and trout, lacking. The most interesting point of all, however, is that these cave-dwellers hada feeling for art. Many of the implements above-mentioned are adorned with designs of great variety, such as zigzag lines, triangles or stripes, arranged with a certain sym metry. More curious are a number of shoulder blades of stag, on which marvellously lifelike out lines of animals, mainly hinds, were engraved with flint tools. Sorne of these engravings are real artis tic creations, and it is not surprising that their authors should have conceived the idea of attemp ting works of an even loftier kind. These are the paintings with which fossil man embellished the interior of the cave, and that have made Altamira famous throughout the world. They forro the sub .ject of a later chapter. 'i'he glacial period alluded to above had not yet come to an end, nor had the present geological age begun, when a catastrophe befell the cave of Altamira.

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