Tito Bustillo cave

Tito Bustillo CaveCantabrian cave paintings

The discovery

In April 1968, some members of the Torreblanca mountain group visited Pozu’l Ramu (Ribadesella) and discovered two of the most important ensembles.A few days after the discovery, one of the adventurers, Celestino Fernández Bustillo, died in a mountain accident. The cave formerly known as Pozu´l Ramu was renamed Tito Bustillo.

The massif

• The Massif of Ardines is a karst system that contains in its interior a network of caves formed over thousands of years.

• The underground channel of the San Miguel River has stalactite and stalagmite, columns and karst formations that make up a singular landscape.

• The Cuevona is an immense geological dome. • Tito Bustillo is an impressive geological and

archaeological site.

The Magdalenian society

• The archaeological excavations have evidenced the intense human occupation of this cave in the Magdalenian age.• The Magdalenian were hunter and gatherers. They used tools and everyday objects such as spears, harpoons or spatulas.• The animal remains reveal that hunting, gathering and fishing

were basic activities.• Traditional tools for making clothes, such as scrapers,

punches and bone needles were found.

World Heritage

• On July 2008, the Committee of UNESCO inscribed this site in the list of World Heritage together with four Asturian sites (Pindal, Peña de Candamo, Llonín and Covaciella) and nine more sites in Cantabria and the Basque Country.

•  The Tito Bustillo Cave Art Centre was created to research about the life and the artistic production in Tito Bustillo in connection with other Asturian sites.

Main panel

• The Main Panel is the only room open to the public and the most important one because of the large number of representations and the variety of artistic techniques and styles.• 30 deer, 13 horses, 9 reindeers, 5 goats, 4 bisons, 2 unidentified

animals and 17 signs.

The crossroad ensemble

• The Crossroads is a large room of the cave that has a remarkable ensemble: a grill-shaped sign and a violet horse identical to those in the Main Panel.

Gallery of horses

• These are high quality Zoomorphic engravings. Some of the representations have a great naturalism. • Eight figures, six horses, a bovine figure and possibly

a bear, are clearly identified.

The Whale ensemble

• This ensemble contains some zoomorphic engravings and lines as a partial representation of a marine animal identified as a whale.• Its marine nature is a rarity in

the Palaeolithic cave art.

The geometrical sings ensemble

It is a small panel with engraved quadrangular signs on the wall of the Long Gallery.

Hand in negative

They are painted in negative and in red color. They can be seen at the Long Gallery. To date, it is the only representation of its kind in Asturias, probably dating from an early Palaeolithic human occupation of the Tito Bustillo cave.

The gallery of anthropomorphic figures

It is a curious hanging formation commonly known as the flag. Two anthropomorphic figures are painted in red on either side of the flag.