C A N T A B R I A   U N I V E R S I T Y
 
 
   
 
  PALEOLITHIC ART      
El Otero (Secadura, Voto)  
    Hind   The first documented news that we have about the Otero cave dates of 1908, when Lorenzo Sierra, in his "Apuntes para el mapa paletnologico de la provincia de Santander" (Notes for the paletnologic map of the province of Santander) talks about the presence of an important Magdalenien deposit in this cavity. In the 60s, Gonzįlez Echegaray, Garcia Guinea and Begines Ramirez realized a complete study of this deposit, in which they stablished a stratigraphic sequence with levels of the Aurignacien, final and upper Magdalenien and Azilienien.

Although this cave has been visited by specialists since the beginning of the century, it is not until 1983 when the parietal decorations were located. It is a small panel composed of the figure of a goat in frontal vision (to the left) and a string of nonfigurative lines situated in a gallery with a very low ceiling. The employed technique in this panel is the engraving with a lonely very thin trace. The inclination towards the left that presents the figure of the goat and the nonfigurative lines plus the scarce height of the ceiling in the gallery (aproximately 1 meter) make you think that the collection was worked in the same session and just by one person, possibly lying on his left side, and drawing with his right hand.

The representation of animals in frontal perspective is rare in the Cantabrian rock art, having been documented some similar examples in the Ekain cave (Guipśzcoa) and La Lastrilla cave (Cantabria), though they were painted in black and red respectively. In France, frontal representations of goat are known in the Massat cave (Aričge, Midi-Pirenčes). On the other hand, in the mobiliar art, we find a lot of pieces with this motif. Most of them have been in levels of the suerior-final Magdalenien, this made it possible to set the panel of Otero cave in this period.

     
   
   
 
   
   
                               
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