Caves of Monte Castillo

A complex of karstic caves on the slopes of Monte Castillo in Puente Viesgo, Cantabria, Spain, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008 under 'Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain'. The complex includes four major caves: El Castillo, La Pasiega, Las Chimeneas, and Las Monedas. El Castillo, discovered in 1903 by Hermilio Alcalde del Rio, contains over 150 catalogued figures and stratigraphic deposits exceeding 20 meters in depth. Uranium-thorium dating of a red disk on the Panel de las Manos yielded a minimum age of 40,800 years, making it the oldest dated cave art in Europe, predating France's Chauvet paintings by approximately 4,000 years.