Not a Care in Santander: Cave of Castillo and Altamira

Friday April 13, 2012

Today we went on our first excursion to visit the cave of Castillo and the cave of Altamira which was a short bus ride out of Santander. In both of the caves we had the opportunity to see the Paleolithic art which we learned about in our art history class. La Cueva de Castillo was amazing! The natural beauty took me by surprise and looking at the drawings of hands, bison, and deer painted on the walls of the made it even more amazing. My favorite cave drawing was of a bison that was painted on the wall which was strategically placed on the natural contours of the cave to create its shoulders and the dimensions of its body. I could see the thoughtfulness the prehistoric artist put into their work and was amazed to be standing inside the same cave a caveman was in hundreds of thousands of years ago. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the cave but I took pictures of the pictures posted at the entrance.

The view from outside Cueva de el Castillo

The Welcome Sign

The door to enter the cave. We weren't alowed to take pictures beyond that point

Here's a picture of a picture of two deer

Here's a picture of a bison on the upper left hand corner and impressions of hands on the lower right hand corner in red

Natalie and I after our cave adventure

The second cave we went to was La Cueva de Altamira which is one of the most famous caves in the world. It is significant because it was the very first cave to be discovered with prehistoric cave paintings in the 1800s. It was opened to the public in the 1880s and there was no precautionary action taken to preserve the art. Over time, the carbon dioxide the tourists would breathe out started to ruin the cave art so officials have closed the cave to the public. To compromise, they made a replica museum so people can still appreciate the history. It is a controversy today as to what action should be taken with the original cave. Should it be restored? Left alone? Reopened to the public with restrictions?

Seeing the replica of Altamira was not quite as amazing as seeing the real cave of Castillo but I tried to pretend I was seeing the real thing. I got a little bored after a few hours and tried to reconnect to the art by imagining Paleolithic dancing. I was waiting for the Paleolithic tutorial dance video in the museum. Although there wasn’t a dance video, there was a display showing what pop culture was inspired by these discoveries which included a Flintstones display. It reminded me of my childhood, and that I need to take my daily vitamins.

Another thing we got to do today was learn the prehistoric techniques of how to hunt for deer and bison. We had long spears made of wood with a sharp tip and a feather tail. You would load the spear into a wooden throwing device that helped with aim and the momentum of the spear. We all took turns practicing our new hunting skills by throwing our spears at targets. The first time I tried throwing the spear I was using it backwards so our hunting instructor laughed and used me as the example of what not to do. Thank goodness for evolution and grocery stores, I wouldn’t be able to feed myself with my Paleolithic hunting skills