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Cave of Altxerri

Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern SpainCaves containing pictograms in SpainCaves of the Basque Country (autonomous community)Geography of GipuzkoaMagdalenian
Urola Kosta
Altxerri cave Antelope
Altxerri cave Antelope

The Cave of Altxerri (in Spanish "Cueva de Altxerri", and in Basque Altxerriko leizea or Altxerriko koba) is located in the municipality of Aya (Gipuzkoa) in the Basque Country (Spain). The original grotto preserves rock paintings and engravings which have been dated from the end of the Upper Magdalenian period, within the Upper Paleolithic; the pictures situated in an upper gallery, known as Altxerri B, have been dated in a 2013 study as the oldest stone paintings in Europe, with an estimated age of 39,000 years. Its artistic style forms part of the so-called Franco-Cantabrian School, characterized by the realism of the figures presented. Altxerri houses one of the largest sets of rock engravings of the area. It contains around one hundred and twenty engravings of which ninety-two are of animals. The bison is the best-represented animal, with a total of fifty-three engravings. Other animals present in the cave are the reindeer, with six engravings, four deer and goats, three horses and aurochs, two saiga antelope, a wolverine, a fox, a hare and a bird. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 2008, together with sixteen other caves situated in Northern Spain, as part of the group known as the Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Cave of Altxerri (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Cave of Altxerri
Laurgain Diseminado,

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N 43.268611111111 ° E -2.1338888888889 °
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Altxerri

Laurgain Diseminado 17
20809
Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain
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Altxerri cave Antelope
Altxerri cave Antelope
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Oria (river)
Oria (river)

The Oria [ˈoɾja] is a river in the Basque Country at the north of the Iberian Peninsula. It's one of a series of Basque rivers flowing into the Bay of Biscay (Atlantic basin) and the main river of the province Gipuzkoa in volume (25.6 m3/s), length (75 km) and basin (882.5 km2), the main feature of these rivers aligned south to north being their shortness. The maximum elevation at the source is 1,260 m, while at its lowest height the tidal influence extends inland up to Usurbil (estuary). On this final stretch, many marsh and wetland strips dotted the banks of the Oria, although some of them have been drained for agricultural and building purposes. The river rises at the south of the municipality of Zegama near the hamlet of Otzaurte and the San Adrian tunnel, harvesting the waters of the north-eastern side of the mountain range Aizkorri, so the river results from the merging of several streams. The first town it crosses is the very nucleus of Zegama, with other major towns of Gipuzkoa being located on the river, e.g. Beasain, Ordizia, Tolosa, Andoain, Lasarte-Oria, Usurbil and finally Orio at the mouth. From Lasarte-Oria to Orio, the sinuous and traffic laden coastal road N-634 winds along. The Oria is a central river and an important axis for the province of Gipuzkoa. The major road A-1 (European route E-5 E-80) runs along the Oria most of the time, as well as the Spanish Northern Railway, right from its rise on the slopes of Aizkorri. Its watershed holds a population of 128,000 inhabitants, most of the lowland being heavily inhabited, while the area of its southernmost stretch is sparsely populated.