THE “TECTIFORMS” OF EL CASTILLO, LA PASIEGA AND ALTAMIRA: REPRESENTATION AND ORGANIZATION OF THE TERRITORY DURING THE UPPER PALAEOLITHIC

Abstract

This paper suggests that the enigmatic, multiple and complex so-called “tectiform” compositions in the caves of El Castillo, La Pasiega, and Altamira - in northern Spain– represent faithfully the territory surrounding each of the caves. While the tectiforms represent mountains in all cases, rivers are expressed by rows of dots or natural cracks on the wall, depending on the cave. The three drawings complement one another and together they represent the Cantabria territory of the basins of rivers Besaya, Saja and Pas, where these caves sites. This paper upgrades the previous paper (Moreno Garcia-Mansilla 2024) presented in Rock Art Research, which covered 6 other maps or “Croquis” in the the caves of Estrellas, Palomas, La Pileta and Altamira, confirming and reinforcing the hypothesis that palaeolithic signs can be deciphered and that palaeolithic men had abstract, communication and territorial organization capabilities, ideas which, until today, were only suspected.