Spanish anthropologist, sociologist, lecturer and historian, Gonzalo Pedro Sánchez Eguren, will lecture at Instituto Cervantes aiming to disseminate the excellence of a unique cultural heritage such is Altamira and the prehistoric caves of Cantabria, which have been declared World Heritage by UNESCO.
The discovery of the dazzling paintings on the ceiling of the Altamira cave was a transcendental change in the concept of hunter-gatherer societies.
This year is the 135th anniversary of the death of Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, an illustrious figure from Cantabria who, together with his daughter, María, are part of this story. María, an eight-year-old girl, discovered the enigmatic paintings of Altamira while her father was investigating in the vestibule of the cave.
Marcelino announced to the world that people who lived during the Paleolithic era had cognitive abilities comparable to ours, which was a revolutionary message compared to the prevailing theories of the time.
The story is exciting, the discovery was extraordinary and, since then, the cave of Altamira is the universal icon of Paleolithic cave art.
