The Basque Country & Northern Spain

After lunch in Santander, we went several miles west to the Cave of Altamira. The cave has impressive, prehistoric petroglyphs. Until recently they were thought to have been created at least 18,500 years ago. Now that date has been moved earlier to at least 22,000 years ago. The caves are in the limestone formations beneath a mountain not far from the Bay of Biscay in Cantabria. They were discovered in 1868, the first caves with prehistoric art found in modern times in Europe.

They were inhabited intermittently for several thousand years until 13,000 years ago when a collapse sealed the entrance. To preserve the paintings, the originals caves have been closed for many years, but replicas of the most important works and a replica of a portion of the cave itself are open to the public.

There is a lot of information on the internet about the caves. This site and this one are particularly interesting.