Altamira. Limestone cave in Sautander province, northern Spain, where animal paintings of the upper palaeolithic or leptolithic era were first discovered (1879). A.'s famous roof frieze of naturalistic bison is now recognized as late Magdalcnian art с. 10000 BC belonging to the final phase of the ice age hunting cultures of Western Europe. The paintings are executed in earth colours, mostly blacks and reds, straight on to porous rock; in some cases one painting is superimposed on another.