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In the last post we dealt with the Cave of Lascaux and its exquisite cave paintings. We are now going to deal with two important caves Altamira and Chauvet.
Altamira cave
Famous for its magnificent prehistoric paintings and engravings, the Cave of Altamira is in northern Spain, in the province of Cantabria, in Santillana del Mar, 30 km west of the port city of Santander.
The so-called great polychrome room, painted in various colors, is found in the inner part of the Cave with a narrow configuration. The final part, which is difficult to access, is a small gallery with Paleolithic paintings and engravings. The cave paintings were the first found in Europe.
The Discovery of the cave
The cave was discovered in 1868 by the hunter Modesto Cubillas and revealed to the nobleman of the region, Marcelino Sanz de Sautola, who visited it in 1875. Excavation began in 1879. Archaeological work was concentrated on the entrance to the cave. Spoils were found in several of its sediment layers. There were flint objects (very hard sedimentary rock), bone, horns and rods, as well as dyes, fauna and shells. This reveals that the cave was inhabited for long periods. A year later, Sanz de Sautola published the work Brief notes on some prehistoric objects from the province of Santander.
Discovery Dispute
At the time of the discovery, several Prehistoric researches were being carried out in France by scholars who did not accept the authenticity of the Altamira paintings. They claimed that there was no parallelism of patterns and designs with the other caves studied in France. Sanz de Saultola was found to be a liar and the matter was dropped.
In 1902, the French prehistorian E. de Cartailach published Les cavernes ornées de dessins. La grotte d'Altamira, Spain. Mea culpa d'un sceptique (The Caves decorated with engravings. The Cave of Altamira, Spain. A skeptic's mea culpa). Thanks to the discovery of other caves in France with paintings similar to those of Altamira, the most skeptical scientists were forced to accept the authenticity of their paintings. Until today there is not the slightest doubt about the authenticity of rock art from northern Spain and its attribution to the Upper Paleolithic.
Technological innovation has made it possible to improve analytical techniques, such as dating methods. It is possible to determine with greater precision the chronologies of art. Geomatics technology has greatly improved the accuracy of formal and spatial documentation of rock art expressions.
New excavations in the 20th century
In 1903, the Spanish archaeologist Hermilio Alcalde del Río continued the excavations and discovered two consecutive levels: one from the Upper Solutrean and another from the Lower Magdalenian, both from the Paleolithic Period. The high archaeological complexity of the cave was confirmed in the excavations carried out in 1924-25 by Hugo Obermaier and, in 1980-81, by the also Spaniard Joaquín González Echegaray, archaeologist and writer historian and by L. G. Freeman, main Paleolithic scholar.
In 2006, studies and dating by C14-AMS demonstrated that the Cave was occupied by eight different types of society: from the Middle Magdalenian (15,000-10,000 BC) to the Gravetian (25,000-20,000 BC).
Given the wide iconographic repertoire and the diversity of techniques and styles it presents, the north of Spain is a world reference in the emergence of this art, the oldest in Europe. After hundreds of discoveries on five continents, the Cave of Altamira is still considered the cave where Paleolithic rock art stands out for its aesthetic quality and technical finish.
The Divisions of the cave
Entrance and vestibule – wider area. Numerous archaeological remains of two main Paleolithic occupations have been found - the Solutrean (about 21,000 to 17,000 years old) and the Magdalenian (about 17,000 to 11,000 years old). There were animal bones, ashes from continuous bonfires, knives, axes and fragments that prove the existence of human activity in the place. Some engraved animal shoulder blades were also found, one of which was directly radiocarbon dated to 14,480 years old. Due to the collapse of the entrance, the cave is now 270 m long.
Polychrome Room (known as the Sistine Chapel of Quaternary Art) – contains most of the paintings and measures around 18 by 9 m with the height of the vault varying from 1.2 to 2.7 m. Artists were usually crouched and working overhead, never seeing the entire ceiling at once. In the secondary rooms and corridors there are cave paintings, but of lesser magnitude and complexity.
Paintings and engravings made in different periods
From archaeological research, experts estimate that the paintings and engravings on the walls of the Cave were made by people who lived there in different periods. Most of them are in the large polychrome room. On the right side of the ceiling are the oldest paintings with the representation of horses, positive and negative images of palms of human hands, abstract shapes and a series of dots, mostly in charcoal.
There are also “masks” resulting from the design of eyes and mouths, snouts, such as those of deer and bison in the natural contours of the rock, which date from the Low Magdalenian period. The technique used is both simple and surprising. The artist took advantage of natural contours and perspective to create a snout with simple elements such as eyes and lines to represent the mouth or nose.
The right side of the ceiling has twenty-five colored paintings (mostly in red and black) depicting horses, bison and a doe over two meters tall. The design technique applied was to carve the wall with a flint stone, draw black lines with charcoal and then color it with red or yellow. They used the ridges and crevices of the ceiling to give volume and relief to the representations of animals.
The current archaeological site of Altamira
In 1985, the seventeen decorated Paleolithic caves were inscribed as an extension of the Altamira Cave. All of them make up the Altamira Cave and the Paleolithic Rock Art of Northern Spain property. Are they:
Peña de Candamo, Tito Bustillo, Covaciella, Llonín, El Pindal, Chufín, Hornos de la Peña, Las Monedas, La Pasiega, Las Chimeneas, El Castillo, El Pendo, La Garma, Covalanas, Santimamiñe, Ekain and Altxerri.
The property represents the apogee of Paleolithic rock art that developed across Europe, from the Urals to the Iberian Peninsula, from 35,000 to 11,000 BC. Due to its deep galleries, isolated from external climatic influences, they are very well preserved and are inscribed as works raw materials of creative genius and as the oldest art of mankind. This type of art is directly related to the appearance of Homo sapiens over 40,000 years ago in Europe. Rock art allows us to discover essential aspects of their way of life and, particularly, their symbolic beliefs.
Protection and management requirements
The Altamira Cave is managed by the Ministry of Culture, through the National Museum and Research Center of Altamira. The entire archaeological site has been declared an Asset of Cultural Interest under the Spanish Historical Heritage Act (1985), the highest Spanish legal protection. They have the maximum level of protection according to the regulations of each Autonomous Community. In the same year the archaeological site was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Between 1997 and 2001 preventive measures were taken. In 2002, the Spanish Superior Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) began an exhaustive restoration and conservation plan. Since 2011, a committee of international experts has been studying the feasibility of a restricted group of visitors entering the cave without affecting its preservation.
In 2007, the Coordinating Commission for the management of the Site and its Committee were created, with representation from national and regional governments. It coordinates programs, action plans and projects, with administrators and managers joining forces for the conservation, protection, investigation and social use of all caves on the property.
The Altamira Cave Preventive Conservation Plan was approved and implemented, as an instrument to coordinate all measures for its preventive conservation initiatives and conservation research.
Each Cave has its own management plan, based on its specific characteristics, state of conservation, load capacity, opening or not to the public, and associated infrastructures. All management plans include constant monitoring of the conservation status. Based on archaeological studies, experts recreated the Cave of Altamira, in the Altamira Museum, with a permanent collection of its objects and the surrounding caves. Accessibility is defined in access management programs under sustainability criteria established based on the load capacity of each cavern.
Chauvet cave
Chauvet Cave, also known as Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave, is a Paleolithic cave located near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc in the Ardèche region of southern France. It houses exquisite and impeccably preserved examples of prehistoric art. Dated between c. 33,000 and c. 30,000 years old, the numerous and diverse animals that dot the interior walls of the cave, both painted and engraved with high artistic quality. It appears to be closer in age to Lascaux Cave (between 20,000 and 15,000 BC).
The Discovery of the cave
On Sunday, December 18, 1994, Jean-Marie Chauvet and his two friends Eliette Brunel-Deschamps and Christian Hillaire were following their passion for speleology (the study of caves) and were exploring an area on the left bank of the Ardèche, near the Pont- d'Arc. A slight flow of air emanating from a hole alerted them to the possible existence of underground caverns.
As they walked through the passages they discovered some small traces of ocher and red, before being amazed by the magnitude of the hundreds of paintings and engravings. They found that it contained the fossilized remains of many animals, including some now extinct. More importantly, they discovered that the cave walls were richly decorated with cave paintings. Along with Lascaux and Serra da Capivara, Altamira is one of the most important archaeological sites in the world.
The gorges of the Ardeche region have numerous caves, many of them of geological or archaeological importance. Chauvet differs for its length and for the quantity, quality and state of conservation of the paintings found on its walls. Researchers think the cave was untouched for 20,000 to 30,000 years, due to a landslide that hid the main entrance.
435 paintings of animals were catalogued, describing thirteen different species, including some that had rarely or never been found in equivalent sites. Lions, panthers, bears, owl-like predatory birds, rhinos and hyenas, in addition to the more common species such as horses, cattle and deer. Bear footprints on the cave floor indicate that these animals probably hibernated there.
Europe 36,000 years ago
During the last Ice Age, the south of France had an extremely cold climate. The geography of Europe at that time was quite different from today. The English Channel could be crossed on foot, followed by a walk to the plain of the Thames (a tributary of the Rhine like the Seine rivers). An ice sheet nearly two miles thick centered around the Scandinavian peninsula covered much of northern Europe. Further south, glaciers spilled over from the Alpine and Pyrenean mountains into the foothills. In this glacial environment, groups of people explored the terrain in search of material resources. They all developed beliefs that they embodied, and sometimes shared, in the form of parietal art or transportable art.
Human occupation
Located in the Gorges of the Ardèche, more precisely in the Combe d'Arc, the Chauvet Cave is in the immediate vicinity of a large natural arch, the Pont d'Arc. About 50 meters high, this limestone bridge, unique in Europe, was carved by the Ardèche River. Humans saw the same landscape 36,000 years ago, except for the cold climate and large area of flat grassland and vegetation.
36 thousand years ago the cave was fully occupied by our ancestors. The decorated areas and walls were carefully chosen, as were the techniques used to draw symbols, graphics or animals. In the cave, there are two distinct styles. The first part of it features drawings in red, while the second part is mostly decorated with black (charcoal) drawings or engravings.
The cave was occupied by humans during at least two periods. The first of c. 37,500 BC. 33,500 years, and the second from c. 32,000 BC. 27,000 years. About 80% of recorded dates are around 32,000 years old – which corresponds to the average age of paintings and prints and falls into the Aurignacian period, the first Upper or Upper Paleolithic culture in Europe, which began when humans Anatomically modern animals arrived on the continent about 40,000 years ago, and lasted until about 28,000 years ago.
These hominids therefore belonged to the Aurignacian culture. They were hunter-gatherers, whose prey consisted mostly of reindeer, horses, bison and aurochs. They competed with predators such as bears and cave lions, panthers and wolves. They used a wide range of organic tools. They also made personal ornaments, figurative art, and even musical instruments. The remaining signs of occupation date back to about 27,000 years ago, which is related to the Gravetian period, which is about 21,000 years old.
Most of the paintings are from the oldest (30,000 to 32,000 years old). The last occupation (25,000 to 27,000 years ago) left few marks, such as the impression of a child's foot, remains of bonfires and soot from the torches used to lighten, but which smoked the paintings. Interestingly, the fireplaces had an additional and non-domestic use as they also served to produce charcoal, one of the artists' tools.
Cave art
There are hundreds of paintings and engravings in the cave, from geometric shapes of red dots on the walls, to handprints and over 420 representations of animals. Most are animals that were not hunted, such as lions, rhinos and bears, which is interesting because from the following Gravetian period, preferences will be inverted, with a focus on prey.
Chauvet also stands out for his use of sophisticated techniques, such as scraping walls, drawing stumps and representing in perspective, little represented in prehistoric rock art. It is believed that these Paleolithic peoples may have had some sort of shamanic religion in which art played a role, perhaps with a dose of hunting magic added to it.
Painting and carving techniques
The artists at Chauvet Cave had torches at their disposal to cast faint, flickering shadows in the total darkness of the cave. The natural relief of the walls would have been continually enhanced and contrasted, which must have been impressive to witness, especially when combined with the animal shapes used to decorate them.
They applied charcoal or manganese dioxide-based black paint and hematite-based red paint, either with brushes, fingers, pieces of charcoal like a pencil or stump drawing (sticking paint to the wall and then spreading it with your hand or with a piece of leather). The paint could also have been sprayed on the walls through tubes or, for the adventurous, directly from the mouth, through stencils, with hands placed on the wall.
Inside of the cave
The cave is about 250 m long, from the entrance to the deepest point. However, its speleological development extends over almost 800 m. The maximum height in a chamber is 17 m. As for the larger chamber, its diameter reaches 270 m along the main axis. There is a succession of chambers, but not all of them were heavily used by them.
The first part of the cave - some of the first paintings that can be found after entering the cave are three bears painted red in a small recess. The artist skillfully used the wall relief to form the shoulders of the larger bear. He painted the muzzle, the contours of the head and the forequarters, giving the composition more depth.
The first part of the cave, characterized by the red color, has a pair of clusters of large red dots, located in a side chamber. They must have been made by dipping the palm of the right hand in liquid red paint and then pushing it against the cave wall.
A little further on there are some mysterious images, again in red, with geometric pieces, difficult to identify. These could be symbolic signs, or even representations of animals (perhaps a butterfly or a bird with open wings). A large panel of red paintings lies beyond, extending over forty feet. It features handprints, geometric signs, and animals like lions and rhinos.
The Second Section – an artless chamber adorning its walls gives way to the second section of the cave, where the paintings are now predominantly black instead of red, and engravings also take center stage.
The Hillaire Chamber is full of engravings that decorate large, suspended stones. A notable long-eared owl stands out with its head facing forward while the body is seen from behind, which perpetuates the 180-degree rotation of the species.
Further on, horses drawn in charcoal appear on the so-called Panel of Horses. One of the main pieces contains around twenty animals in a unique naturalistic scene, rare in Paleolithic art. At center stage are four horses' heads, but what really draws attention are two rhinos who stand face to face, horns crossed, confronting each other exactly as male rhinos’ fight.
There is a panel of reindeer and a structure composed of a cave bear skull, decorated with charcoal marks, and placed on top of a large limestone block, with the hollow eye sockets peering into the darkness.
The Final Chamber – is so richly decorated that you hardly know where to look. The first outstanding piece is the Panel of Rhinos, drawn with charcoal on rock, featuring nine lions, a reindeer and an impressive seventeen rhinos (rare in Paleolithic mural art). The composition has a spatial perspective, achieved by leaving gaps in strategic locations and decreasing the size of the rhinos' horns at the back.
To the right of the central recess, the incredible Panel of the Lions composes another unique setting in Paleolithic art; the main scene shows a pride of sixteen lions (indicated only by their heads) chasing a group of seven bison. The tense expressions of the lions, their poses and the male lions joining the females during a hunt. The techniques further differentiate, with a scraped surface and shading achieved by stump drawing. Areas left blank to create depth and contours highlighted by scraping give the impression of the animals emerging from the wall.
Still in the final chamber, the Sorcerer's Panel has drawings and engravings in black. They feature lions, a horse, two mammoths and a musk ox and a strange shape known as a 'Sorcerer'. It appears to be a creature composed of the lower body of a woman crowned by the upper body and horned head of a black bison. The last animals are a red rhino, a sketched rhino, and a mammoth (drawn in charcoal and engraved).
The cave today
On April 22, 2014 UNESCO - United Nations Cultural Agency, granted its prized World Heritage status to the prehistoric cave of Chauvet. Delegates of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee voted to grant the status at a meeting in Doha (capital of Qatar).
Chauvet Cave is closed to the public, in view of the hard lesson of Lascaux Cave, which has been heavily damaged by the carbon dioxide produced by its many visitors. It continues to be studied by an interdisciplinary team, with a close eye on any alarming signs.
In April 2015, a full-size copy of the cave was unveiled. In the space, created thanks to the work of architects, painters, sculptors and other artists, replicas of cave paintings can be admired. To avoid degradation of the cave, the original was never opened to the public.
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