Altamira and Castillo

The first image in my first art history lesson was the pale horse from the Altamira caves in Spain.
The caves have been closed for 10 years now and a replica made. Want to see a replica?
Or, bison and hands could be seen at Castillo . El Castillo. El Castillo caves. For real.

A 20 minute drive from Altamira. Made it to the town in plenty of time. Made it to the cave just in time. El Castillo. Have not heard of them until now.

The caves are very, very old. Discovered in the early 1900s, they are long and deep and record hands and bison and deer on rocks, sometimes using the natural form of the rock to provide dimension and line. 60 000 years old they say. 84 000 years they say. And some 12 000 years old they say.

So old. So pure.

What they did and why they did is speculation.
But it is there.
We always want to leave our mark.
Say we were here. Imprint around of what on us imprints. Record, remember or regard.
Religious so they say.

One day these caves too will be closed. Replica caves made perhaps.
One day my grandchildren will want to see such ancient things. Maybe see the lines on rock in their first art lesson.
Maybe want to hear the stories. (..no photographs allowed..)

ps - photos of display information, no breaking of photographic rules.