3rd Inturotel conference on mediterranean archaeology
On May 12th 2025, the 3rd Inturotel Conference on Mediterranean Archaeology was held, entitled “Altamira Cave: 30,000 years of history.” It was given by Carmen de las Heras Martín, the curator and deputy director of Altamira National Museum & Research Centre. As well as being an expert on Altamira Cave, she also offered an insight into Cantabria’s palaeolithic prehistory and, by extension, that of Europe.
In the conference, Dr. de las Heras reviewed everything that Altamira Cave represents. She started by giving a historical outline of the cave’s discovery and the research that has been conducted for over 150 years. The first person to enter the cave after a space of 15,000 years was a hunter called Modesto Cubillas in 1868. Years later, the owner of the land, Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, visited the cave and became a staunch defendant of the authenticity of the paintings, which had been dismissed as forgeries back then. Much later, when Sautuola was no longer alive, their authenticity was accepted. Specifically, in 1902, French professor Émile Cartailhac published a paper that has become famous (Mea culpa d’un squeptique), where he acknowledges that he was wrong in not believing how ancient the paintings were.
Its conservation is the greatest concern of the scientific world.
Dr. de las Heras then turned her attention to conservation problems, which have worsened with the years. In fact, the cave has had to be closed to the public and it can solely be visited by signing up to a waiting list, with a wait of several years and a maximum of 5 visitors per week. This is due to problems of humidity and contamination, since fungus of any kind is damaging. Today, priority is given to the conservation conditions inside the cave. Indeed, in 2001, a replica of the cave was built, called the neocave, visited by thousands and thousands of visitors.
The interpretation of the paintings remains an enigma
De las Heras went on to address the subject of possible interpretations of the paintings, making it very clear that this is not a current priority for the scientific world. Efforts now are focused on conservation, the documentation of further paintings, and new datings.
In recent years, new figures have been discovered, in particular, numerous abstract geometrical elements that are hard to interpret although they have led to an exponential increase in the corpus of palaeolithic art. Dr. de las Heras emphasized the fact that the most important recent scientific findings are the datings. The oldest paintings currently date back 32,000 years (and hence they are older than was previously thought), while the most recent are 13,000 years old, the point when the entrance to the cave collapsed and they became isolated from the outside world until Cubillas discovered them in the 19th century.
Knowledge of the cave’s surroundings
One of the highlights of the conference was the presentation of a research project started in 2003 and published in 2016 under the title “Los tiempos de Altamira. Actuaciones arqueológicas en las Cuevas de Cualventi, el Linar y las Aguas (Alfoz de Lloredo, Cantabria, España).” [“The Times of Altamira. Archaeological Interventions at the Caves of Cualventi, El Linar and Las Aguas (Alfoz de Lloredo, Cantabria, Spain)”]. The main aim of the project was to gain a better insight into the background setting of the people who frequented Altamira. Today, excavations at Altamira Cave have almost finished and it is important not to damage the site. Consequently, studies of the three above caves can provide new information about the people who lived in the area in palaeolithic times since both sites were almost certainly frequented by the same community. After years of research, substantial progress has been made in building up a geological awareness of the area and palaeoenvironment, gaining a far clearer understanding of the climate, vegetation, and land and aquatic animals that coexisted with prehistoric human populations. Art remains were also found in some of the places that were excavated, together with bones. For those interested in finding out more, the project report can be found on the website of Altamira Museum, together with Monografia 26, a monographic publication fully devoted to the project.
Dissemination of the archaeological heritage of the Mediterranean.
The conference concluded with a debate between the numerous members of the public in the audience and the speaker, who kindly answered all their questions. All this clearly demonstrates the event’s scientific prestige, whose first edition was held three years ago now. In 2026, the conference will no doubt make an impression once again, rousing the same interest and offering the same high standards that have put Felanitx on the map as a privileged venue for the dissemination of archaeology while also reinforcing Inturotel’s role as a key sponsor of heritage in the Mediterranean, whose waters bathe our history laden coasts.