The Painted Sanctuaries: A Narrative Review of Palaeolithic Cave Art, from Altamira's Controversy to the Chauvet Dates
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) August 30, 2026 Zen Revista, 10 History preprint
The painted caves are the human record's deepest sanctuaries: Altamira's bison, whose 1880 publication by Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola was twenty years dismissed as forgery; Lascaux's bulls and horses; Chauvet's lions and rhinos, whose 1995 publication and 2001 radiocarbon dates made the cave the art's oldest; the Cueva de las Manos's hands and hunts in Patagonia. This article presents a...