It’s only two kilometers from the bus stop in Santillana del Mar to the
Altamira Museum and Cave but you arrive 20,000 years in the past. Stone Age humans, cave men, occupied
Altamira for 8,000 years and left behind drawings and polychrome rock paintings
of wild mammals and human hands. Altamira, the first cave in which prehistoric
cave paintings were discovered, rocked the scientific community for more than
one hundred years, many not believing that prehistoric man had the capability
to create such art. Recent
estimates date some of the paintings from 25,000 to 35,000 years old.
That the paintings survived for so long is as surprising as the fact
they were created at all. Around 13,000 years ago the cave opening collapsed
sealing off the cave. The stable
atmosphere perfectly preserved the paintings until 1880 when they were
rediscovered. They have steadily deteriorated since, another case of a site
being loved to death. Altamira
became a World Heritage Site in 1985 and in 2001 the Altamira Museum unveiled
the “Neocave,” an exact laser-mapped reproduction of the original Polychrome
Ceiling. The colors are simple;
black and ochre. Artists
appear to have worked over several generations and exploited the natural contours in the
cave walls to give their some of their subjects a three-dimensional effect. The animals are easily recognizable – a herd of
bison in various poses, horses and deer.
But rather than being graphically correct like the art of Robert Bateman
or our friend Timothy Mayhew, these artists included a sense of the animals’
spirits and of their special relationship. Not only were they the first artists, they presaged the
Impressionists. Now wonder Pablo Picasso
said, “After Altamira everything is decadence.”
Addendum: A week has passed and we are in France. We have just visited another site where early humans lived. Like Altamira Pech Merle was occupied as early as 25,000 years ago. And like Altamira they left their cave art. But Pech Merle is a real cave with stalactites and stalagmites and curtains and pillars. And you can actually enter the cave and see the original art. No photo, of course, but this is the real thing! It isn't far from the famous Lascaux caves and is really worth the visit.
