Cave of El Castillo

A cave in Cantabria, Spain, containing Paleolithic paintings and engravings. Its red disk and hand stencils include images dated to at least 40,800 years ago.

El Castillo hand stencil: A prehistoric hand image made by spraying pigment around a hand against a cave wall. A hand stencil in the cave was dated to at least 40,800 years ago.
Uranium–thorium dating: A radiometric method that dates calcium-carbonate deposits by measuring uranium and thorium isotopes. It dated calcite covering some El Castillo images, giving minimum ages for the art.
Monte Castillo: A limestone hill near Puente Viesgo, Cantabria, containing several caves with Paleolithic art and archaeological deposits. El Castillo is one of the decorated caves in this hill’s karst complex.
Chauvet Cave: A cave in southern France containing exceptionally early Upper Paleolithic animal paintings, many dated to around 36,000 years ago. Its early art invites comparison with the older dated images at El Castillo.
El Castillo red disk: A red disk painted on a cave wall at El Castillo, among the cave’s oldest dated images. Its dating helped establish the antiquity of the cave’s painted signs.
Radiocarbon dating: A method for estimating the age of once-living material from its radioactive carbon-14 content. It dates charcoal and other organic finds associated with human activity in the cave.
Hermilio Alcalde del Río: A Spanish prehistorian who documented Paleolithic cave art in Cantabria in the early twentieth century. He investigated and published findings from El Castillo and neighboring caves.
Altamira Cave: A cave in Cantabria famous for its polychrome Upper Paleolithic paintings, especially bison on its ceiling. Altamira’s vivid animal paintings contrast with El Castillo’s prominent red signs and hand stencils.
La Pasiega: A cave in Cantabria containing Paleolithic paintings and engravings, including a disputed ladder-shaped sign. It belongs to the same Cantabrian cave-art landscape as El Castillo.
Hand stencil: A negative image made when pigment is applied around a hand placed against a surface. This technique produced some of El Castillo’s distinctive red hand images.

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