Las Chimeneas Cave was discovered in 1953 by a team of road workers from the Regional Council (Diputación Regional) who, under the direction of A. García Lorenzo, were building the access road to El Castillo and La Pasiega caves. The discovery was published in 1956 by J. González Echegaray. In the original vestibule, a few [...]
Twelve thousand years ago, the last hunter-gatherers who inhabited the Cantabrian Cornice used charcoal to sketch inside a small chamber. They depicted the final cold-climate animals to live in this region before their extinction, such as reindeer and a bison, alongside ibexes and horses. As they journey through the interior, visitors will be amazed by [...]
Although the cave contains rock art, it is not included in the tour because it is located between 600 and 1,200 meters deep, and because its karst system remains active with underground water streams. In fact, on heavy rainy days, the river gushes back from its depths, flowing beneath the 150-meter footbridge that visitors cross [...]
Between 30,000 and 10,000 years ago, groups of hunter-gatherers frequented the upper basin of the Miera River. Typically during the summer, the Paleolithic inhabitants of Cantabria would climb up to the rugged massifs of Miera to hunt Iberian ibex. The Miera River and its tributaries offered an abundance of salmon and trout. The fruit of [...]
In addition to its geological value, the cave preserves an exceptional industrial archaeology heritage derived from the zinc and lead mining that was active in the Sierra de Arnero from the mid-19th century until the late 1970s. A replica of a mining train transports visitors through the La Isidra mining gallery to an underground station. [...]
Prehistorians such as Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola (discoverer of the Altamira paintings), Jesús Carballo (founder of the current Museum of Prehistory and Archaeology of Cantabria), and Julio Martínez Santa-Olalla excavated the cave, discovering numerous bone and antler tools finely decorated, such as the so-called 'batons of command' (bastones de mando). The earliest occupations occurred 84,000 [...]
Among its cave art complex, an engraved horse on the exterior stands out for its great antiquity, being one of the few outdoor engravings still preserved along the Cantabrian Coast. Walking inside through a narrow, low corridor will transport you to another time; led by the guide acting as a shaman, you will reach the [...]
Access to the interior is gained by crawling for the first 4 meters—a tribute that visitors must pay to discover such a majestic estate. Some of its images were conceived with a certain erotic sense. Highlighting this is a potential female figure with prominent pubic hair and a vulva. Inside, your path will be limited [...]
La cavidad fue descubierta, en 1875, por M. Sanz de Sautuola, quién practicó excavaciones en la misma. Así mismo, halló los grandes cuadrangulares negros del fondo de la cueva, entre 1875-1879. En 1879, y durante las excavaciones de Sautuola, su hija María descubrió los famosos policromos. En 1880, Sautuola da a conocer los resultados de [...]
Su yacimiento arqueológico, situado en el vestíbulo, contiene evidencias humanas de los últimos 150.000 años, lo que permitió al arqueólogo alemán Hugo Obermaier establecer la secuencia cultural de los cuatro periodos en los que se divide la Prehistoria. El estrato 18c es conocido a nivel internacional por contener evidencias arqueológicas de una posible convivencia [...]
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