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Mr. Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola |
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Mr.
Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola showed the world for the first
time the palaeolithic rock art through the paintings of Altamira, found in 1879. In 1880, with the publication
of "Breves apuntes sobre algunos objetos
prehistóricos de la provincia de Santander"
(Brief notes about some prehistoric objects in the
province of Santander) started a strong controversy, in
which Sautuola and his friend Mr. Juan de Vilanova ,
geologist as well, defended the palaeolithic chronology
of the parietal paintings of Altamira: "following
the research of the first gallery,...the observant
remains surprised as he contemplates a large number of
animals painted on the vault of the cave, apparently,
with black ochre and red, and of big size, mainly
depicting animals that, because of their hunchback, have
some similarity with the bison" (written by
Sautuola in "Breves apuntes sobre algunos objetos
prehistóricos de la provincia de Santander" in
1880). Meanwhile, authorities in Prehistory leaded by E.
Cartailhac, rejected that the Altamira paintings were
made by the prehistoric man. Mr. Marcelino Sanz de
Sautuola died on June 2, 1888, without the recognition of
his effort from many of his closer contemporaries, but
his persistent work began to be taken into account after
the engravings of La Mouthe (France) were discovered, in
1895. In 1902 the controversy about the publication ends,
on Cartailhac’s hand with the famous "Mea
culpa d’un sceptique", where he recognizes
his mistake and declares his respect for Sautuola. In 1902, Breuil, an important researcher of
palaeolithic art, begins the Altamira cave survey. As the
time goes on, a team with scientists such as Obermaier,
Alcade del Río, Lorenzo Sierra,.. under the patronage of
the Prince of Mónaco, becoming the preamble to the
investigation of palaeolithic rock art in the world.
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