vary in size from 1.50 to 2.50 meters and represent the bison, wild boar, deer, horse, etc. Since Altamira, a dozen other caverns with decorated walls have been found in the Province of Santander: El Haza and Covalanas near Rameles, region of Rio Asón (paintings); Sotarriza, Cueva negra (paintings) and Venta de la Perra (engravings), all three at Molinar de Caranza, Rio Asón; Salitre at Ajanedo, environs of Santander with Aurignacian and Magdalenian paintings; Castillo, at Puente-Viesgo (paintings and engravings). El Pendo, near Escobedo (engravings) and Santien, at Puente-Arce (paintings), all in the region of Rio Pas; Hornos de la Peña, at San Felices de Buelna (paintings and engravings), Clotilde, at Santa Isabel (engravings) and Meaza, at Comillas (paintings), in the environs of Torrelavega. In addition to these, the able committee so generously supported by the Prince of Monaco located some fifteen caverns, in which no frescoes and wall engravings were found, and four paleolithic stations other than caverns.
In 1903, Juan Cabré noticed for the first time animal figures painted on walls of a rock-shelter at Cretas, south of Calaceite, called Roca del Moro. In 1906, after having heard of the publication of Alcalde del Rio on the caverns of Santander, he called the attention of archeologists to the figures he had seen three years previously. Breuil[1] heard of the place through a publication of Santiago Vidiella,[2] and visited it in 1908 for the purpose of study. The grotto is 10 meters long by 2.5 meters wide. The floor deposits are barren, but on the slope there are flint flakes of the Magdalenian type and no trace of the neolithic. On the protected wall of the rock shelter were found the handsome frescoes which have been removed to prevent their being destroyed by curious visitors. The removal was successfully made in spite of the hardness of the rock.
The painted frieze comprised three deer, a bull, and a small creature undetermined. All are in dark red, the color having penetrated well into the rock. The figures of the deer were outlined by delicate engraving. One of these is represented as in the act of rising (se levant de son gîte), the attitude being full of grace and natural elegance (pl. 6, fig. a). In this figure and all those of the deer at Cretas there is a curious disposition of the antlers. The upper parts are represented as seen from the front, while the lower parts are in profile. This is also true of figures of the deer at Cogul, Lérida (Catalonia), and in France among the drawings of the rehideer in the cavern of Portel (Ariège).
