Cueva de La Pasiega
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Monte Castillo's richest sanctuary — 700 figures and a ladder-shaped sign claimed, contentiously, for Neanderthals
One of the great painted caves of Monte Castillo, above Puente Viesgo in Cantabria: more than 120 m of galleries hold over 700 painted figures — red hinds above all, with horses, ibex, bison, aurochs and dense series of abstract signs. Most of the art is Upper Solutrean to Lower Magdalenian; in 2018 uranium-series dating of calcite over one ladder-shaped sign returned a minimum age beyond 64,000 years, a disputed claim of Neanderthal authorship. The cave itself is closed to the public.
Gallery
The art
- ◦ 700+ painted figures
- ◦ Panels of red hinds
- ◦ Contested 64,000-yr scalariform sign
How it was made
How we know its age
Rock art carries no signature and no date. These are the methods that put an age on this site. How these methods work →
Plan a Visit
Sources
- 1.Cave of La Pasiega — Wikipedia
- 2.Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain — UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- 3.Official site — Gobierno de Cantabria
- 4.U-Th dating of carbonate crusts reveals Neandertal origin of Iberian cave art — Science
Further reading
- Pasiega Cave — Don's Maps