1878 - Don Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, an amateur archaeologist, a passionate admirer of antiquities, having visited the World Exhibition in Paris and examined the materials exhibited there in a special section on prehistoric people from the excavations of archaeologists from France, was amazed at the miniature images of animals engraved on bone and stone people of the Stone Age. The places where these images were found made it possible to conclude that something similar could be on the land of Spain. Back in Santander, Soutuola devoted all his time to searching for such images.
He first visited the cave in his possession in 1876, even before visiting the World Exhibition in Paris, several years after the dog of local hunter Modesto Cubillas Perez was nearly stuck in its entrance opening. Pulling the dog out of a crevice in the stone rubble, the hunter found an overgrown with weeds the entrance to a cave on the hillside. The canopy that covered the hole collapsed about 13,000 years ago. This area overgrown with eucalyptus trees in northern Spain has long been called Altamira, the same name was given to the famous cave.
Even during the first exploration of the Altamira cave, Marcelino saw several black drawings in its depths, but did not attach any importance to this. However, on his return from Paris in November 1879, Southwola began to conduct exploratory excavations in the cave. During these excavations, he discovered in the cave processed tools made of stone, bone, antlers and traces of a Paleolithic hearth. One day he took his 9-year-old daughter Maria with him. She was interested in everything here, and her growth made it possible to freely view the vaults of the cave where her father could only walk bent over. And it was Maria who then saw on one of the vaults of Altamira the buffalo painted in red paint. "Toros, hummock!" the girl screamed.
Southwola saw what would eventually be called the Great Shade, one of the most famous works of Upper Paleolithic art. The ceiling of the cave was painted with ocher and charcoal, but thanks to the skill of the artist, it looked multicolored. The images of animals were 18 meters long and about 9 meters wide in stripes.
In the center of the Large Plafond, 15 bison are drawn in various poses; behind the largest male bison is a female deer, several figures of horses, a goat, a bison with a missing head, and even higher - a wild boar. Remarkable are the figures of bison, bowing their heads and bending their legs to the stomach. They look strange on a flat wall, but these poses are realistic - this is how animals lie on the grass for a long time.
Studying the drawings, the hidalgo concluded that their author must be very knowledgeable and talented, his hand confidently entered the images into the rocky irregularities. Passing from the first hall of the cave to the second, Southwola saw drawings of animals and geometric figures there. In a layer of cultural deposits on the floor of the cave, he discovered pieces of ocher of the same color as the one and a half and 2 meter high bison were painted. And most importantly, after careful research, Southwola has collected convincing evidence that no one has ever been in these rooms since the ancient Stone Age. He was sure that the painting of the Altamira cave is traces of the still unknown activity of a fossil man.
Southwola realized that he, an amateur, could not determine the exact age of Altamira's images. He modestly wrote with surprising modesty for an amateur that he was only "obliged to prepare the way for more competent persons who want to reveal the origins and customs of the primitive inhabitants of these mountains." Southwola, despite his confidence, did not assert anything - he only raised a question, the final decision of which he did not take upon himself, although the evidence he collected then, as it turned out 20 years later, was quite enough for such a decision.
He wrote a small work about his discovery and sent it to the editorial office of the journal Materials on the Natural History of Man (France) - the main organ of primitive historians at that time; he decided to introduce his compatriots to the Altamira cave frescoes. A professor at the University of Madrid, a geologist Vilanova, having visited Altamira and found bones of fossil animals, including a cave bear, in the control pits of the cultural layer of the cave, supported Sautuola's conclusions.
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Residents of Santander and the surrounding provinces were thrilled with the discovery of their fellow countryman. Information leaked to the press - Altamira became a place of tourist pilgrimage. Even the king of Spain himself made the cave happy with his visit (some nimble citizen even brought out the name of Alfonso XII over one fresco with torch smoke in memory of such an important visit).
However, the fate of Altamira was decided by scientists in Paris.
As the grandson of Marcelino Soutuola Emilio later wrote, his grandfather received only reproaches and sorrows instead of recognition and gratitude. Pundits pounced on Soutuola's hypothesis and declared him a charlatan and a liar. Professor Kartalyak, head of the editorial board of Materials, read a brochure by Sautuola, which reproduced Altamir frescoes. Over time, he recalled that these drawings made an indelible impression on him, but he decided to consult with one of the greatest archaeologists, a man of a bright mind and advanced views, the scientist who actually created modern primitive archeology, Gabriel de Mortilla.
And he, when news about Altamira reached him, warned Kartalyak: “Buddy, be careful. These are the tricks of the Spanish Jesuits. They want to discredit primitive historians. So the figures of bison, created tens of thousands of years ago, suddenly found themselves in the center of the passions that raged at that time around the question of the origin of man.
Mortilier's arguments were summarized as follows. All images of Altamira's cave are in pitch darkness, daylight cannot penetrate there. To create frescoes, long artificial lighting is needed, which people of the Ice Age could not provide. There are no traces of lighting in the cave, for example, soot from torches. Meanwhile, the frescoes on the ceiling of Altamira were painted with the greatest artistry. The author played them with colors and light scales, clearly trying to convey the effects of lighting forms.
The surface of the cave is covered with ancient stalactite incrustations, murals are applied to these incrustations; only in a few places (this was the reason to consider them ancient) the opposite picture: stalactites cover part of the figures - horses and other animals. The paint of the paintings is damp, fresh, and can be easily removed with a finger. It is impossible to imagine the preservation of such colorful images for many centuries. The ocher, with which the frescoes were painted, is found not only in the Paleolithic layer, but everywhere in these places, local residents even coat their houses with it.
The archaeologists did not go into the cave again and were not interested in frescoes …
1902 - at the congress of French anthropologists in Montaban, Professor Lucien Captain and his young co-authors Henri Breuil and Denis Peyronie made a report on two huge caves discovered by them in 1901 - Combarrel and Font de Gaume - with rock carvings. In Combarel, only engraved figures of animals were found - 14 mammoths, 3 reindeer, 2 bison and 90 animals of other species - up to one meter in size. In Font de Gaume there are both engravings and multi-colored paintings: two-meter bison, mammoths, reindeer - a total of 75 images.
Some of the figures are covered with transparent armor of ancient calcite incrustations … The audience laughs - but the authors of the frescoes are not fossil people, but local peasants, shepherds; it was they who drew their cattle because they had nothing to do. Of course, the speakers referred to their predecessors. By that time, the Paleolithic age of the rock paintings in the caves of Per-no-Per, La Mut, Marsula, Shabo had already been recognized. There was Altamira … But these links only strengthened the humorous mood of the amused listeners.
And then Kartalyak got up and urged the audience not to make a fatal mistake, which he himself made 20 years ago and which he now deeply regrets. In the silence that followed, the scientist announced that his article on this will be published in the next issue of the journal "Anthropology", and now we must go to the caves and inspect the images that were reported.
On the closing day of the congress, August 14, 1902, its participants went to Combarel, then to Font de Gaume, from there to La Mute - and made sure that everything that was reported about the rock carvings was true. At the exit of La Mute, the participants of the excursion were photographed, this group photo became evidence of a historical moment - the recognition of rock paintings and paintings of the Ice Age, including painting of the Altamira Cave. True, Southwola did not live to see this.
Modern dating methods made it possible to conclusively confirm what Sautuola had no doubt about. Using the AMS14C radiocarbon method, which requires only a tiny bit of coal, a series of dates for Altamira's Great Shade was obtained: they range from 14,820 to 13,130 years ago; the dates of the images located in other parts of the cave have a wider time frame - from 16 480 to 14 650 years ago.
Although the recognition of the artistic value of Altamira's cave paintings was not easy, the time came when the admiration for the work of the ancients and the desire to see these priceless masterpieces firsthand came into conflict with the need to take care of their preservation.
Thousands of people visited Altamira every year, which of course affected its safety. 1977 Altamira cave was closed to visitors: it turned out that a huge tourist flow affects the climate inside the cave. Changes in humidity and carbon dioxide content led to the degradation of painting pigments. And some of the visitors did not abandon their attempts to recapture fragments of ancient images for memory, throwing at them, despite the fence, all sorts of small objects, for example coins.
Long-term observations of specialists made it possible to establish the optimal temperature and humidity that would not have a destructive effect on the monument, and in 1982 the Altamira cave was reopened, but the number of visitors was limited to 8,500 per year. And since the beginning of the 1990s, they began to create a backup cave - Altamira-2. Located not far from the original, it is made according to the latest technology, but with the use of manual labor. The latest technologies were used to imitate the texture of the walls, maintain a cool cave climate, and restore the original appearance of the entrance area.
The murals themselves were created in the same way as thousands of years ago, with a natural water-based pigment. The walls were assembled from high density polystyrene blocks. The color, relief and texture of the rocky surface were imitated by a mixture of limestone and resins. The use of varnish and epoxy resin created the illusion that water droplets were hanging from the ceiling.
But some changes were nevertheless made: for the convenience of visitors in the hall with the paintings, the floor was lowered much lower than in the original Altamira. This makes it possible for tourists to enter without bending over, without lifting their heads while examining the paintings. Air conditioners were installed in the room, the temperature is kept constant at 14 ° C. Light and audio-visual technology enhance the effect of reality, bringing Altamira-2 closer to its prototype.
The life of Altamira, the "discoverer" - that very girl, the daughter of Soutuola Maria, turned out well. She married a member of the richest Botin family. This family's foundation paid most of the costs of creating Altamira-2.
2001, July 17 - The replica cave was opened to visitors, the first of which were the King and Queen of Spain. Don Marcelino's descendants honor the memory of their now famous ancestor. Now his good name has been restored, and his wounded pride could triumph. Near the entrance to the cave, there is a simple obelisk made of rough stone, dedicated to the memory of Marcelino de Sautuola, who opened a new world of primitive artistic creativity for humanity.
A. Ermanovskaya