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Since the day of its discovery, passions have raged around Altamira. It became a stumbling block for the scientific community and a test of conscience for its representatives. And for the discoverer, the sensational find turned out to be a tragedy.
The cave was discovered in 1868 by accident. A hunting dog chasing a fox suddenly disappeared. The hunter began to search for his pet and heard him whimpering... underground. The hunter rolled away a stone and entered a cave through a crevice. The discovery was reported to the owner of the land, the amateur archaeologist Marcelino de Sautuola.
In November 1879, after an archaeological exhibition in France, Sautuola decided to excavate Altamira. Deer antlers, shards of utensils, flint axes and other tools — the archaeologist's persistence was rewarded.
But the unique discovery belongs to the archaeologist's nine-year-old daughter Maria: "Look, Daddy, there are bulls!" Sautuola could not believe his eyes — ancient bison, horses and boars were "dancing" on the ceiling.
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The drawings were masterfully made: the relief of the rock was used to give the animals volume. The ancient artist first went through with a chisel and then painted the drawings with natural paints — colored bas-reliefs turned out. A shell was also found here, which served as a palette for Stone Age man. Amazingly, but the primitive masters used techniques that were "discovered" only in the XIX century impressionists. It was a sensation!
The news of the cave, which an amateur archaeologist cautiously dated the Paleolithic era, quickly spread by Spain. To Altamira began a real pilgrimage of antiquities lovers. Even King Alfonso XII of Spain visited the cave. But with the scientific recognition of the discovery was a hiccup.
The scientific world persistently did not "see" the cave. Can there be an ancient man's creative abilities and aesthetic taste?
Amateur archaeologist and professor at the University of Madrid, Don Juan Vilanova y Pierre, who supported Sautuola, was ridiculed in offices and at scientific conferences. Honorable men considered — at least they were comfortable with it — Altamira a scientific scam.
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"Cartagliak, my friend, be careful," Gabriel de Mortillier, the "father" of modern primitive archaeology, wrote to his student. — This is a trick of the Spanish Jesuits. They want to compromise the historians of primordialism." And Professor Cartagliak — head of the editorial board of the French journal Materials on the Natural History of Man, to which Sautuola had sent his pamphlet on Altamira — decided not to take any chances. The lone voices in favor of Sautuola were drowned out by a chorus of those unwilling to revise the scientific paradigm.