Curiosity Drive 🚐Another day, another art gallery—although this one exhibits works tens of thousands of years old. The Museo de Altamira houses faithful reproductions of some of the most famous #prehistoric rock paintings known, inside a bespoke “Neocave”. Recognised for what they were in 1879, the original cave was inhabited by Paleolithic hunter-gatherers from 35,000 years ago until a rockfall 13,000 years ago sealed it, putting it out of use as a seasonal camp—but preserving the contained artefacts & artworks. Several naturalistic bison are depicted on the rock ceiling, formed from a drawing & engraved detailing coloured black with charcoal, & infilled with red ochre (📷1); this one was realised ~15,000 years ago. In some cases—as here—the designs utilise the ceiling’s natural contours to give the animals a sense of depth & movement, making it one of the earliest known examples of shading & volume in art. A number of handprints adorn the ceiling; the artist’s hand was coated in red ochre then pressed onto the rock, in this case 22,000 years ago (📷2). An alternative “airbrush” technique was also utilised to create an outline hand design. The oldest work comprises several parallel double-curved lines; this seemingly abstract “Sign” was painted 36,000 years ago (📷3). Whether the paintings had special meaning, or were simply “art for art’s sake”, is not known. An adjacent exhibition hall contains recovered artefacts & tells the story of human evolution. Among the artefacts found near the cave entrance were these pendants, carved from the hyoid bones of a horse 22,400 years ago (📷4). The entrance to the actual cave is only 300m from the museum, but you can’t approach it. With 17 other caves Altamira forms the “Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain” UNESCO World Heritage Site.
🇪🇸#spain #cantabria 🇪🇺#europe 🚀#travel 🚐 #camperVan #nomad #roadTrip #vanLife 🌍#unesco
Master Galengeist
Thomas Leroy 🍣🐈⬛
Hanan! 🌻
Kate 
TKSST • seethis.tv 🌈🪐✨
