Altxerri Cave

Cave painting of a bison in the cave

The Cave of Altxerri [ al'tʃeri ] is a paleolithic used cave in the Spanish Autonomous Community of the Basque Country , from the cultural level of the Magdalenian . It is located in the district of Aia , near San Sebastián . It belongs to the circle of the Franco-Cantabrian cave art . The cave is not open to the public, but is open to researchers. The current as well as the natural entrance of the cave is on a steep wall. The cave lies on limestone, which is deposited in layers.

The cave paintings and cave drawings show ibex , reindeer , birds , bison , deer , foxes , snakes , fish and a saiga antelope . The pictures are well preserved, but the high humidity of the walls has made them largely gone.

Nearby, about ten kilometers away, is the Ekain Cave .

Together with the caves of Ekain, Santimamine and Isturitz, the cave of Altxerri belongs to the prehistoric caves of the Gulf of Bizkaia. Since July 2008, these are listed along with 12 other caves along the Cantabrian coast.

literature

Jesús Altuna, Amelia Baldeon, Koro Mariezurrentena, Pedro Diaz de González: Ekain and Altxerri near San Sebastian. Two paleolithic picture caves in the Spanish Basque Country . Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3799590021 .