The Altamira Caves were discovered in1879 near Santander in northern Spain. Marcelino de Sautoula, a local resident, decided to explore the Altamira caves which were on his residence. His interest in human antiquity led him to finding specimens of flint and carved bones. In his voyage into the caves that led to the discovery of the paintings, he took his daughter with him. As the caves were small and only a few inches above his head, it was his daughter who first noticed, from her lower vantage points, the shadowy figures painted on the ceiling.

When he came forth with his discovery, archeologists were highly dubious of the authernticity of these works. In the Lisbon Congress on Prehistoric Archeology in 1880, the Altamira paintings were officially dismissed as forgeries. But in 1896, at Pairnon-Pair in the Gironde district of France, paintings were discovered partially covered by calcareous deposits that would have taken thousands of years to accumulate. Finally, in 1901, Abbé Breuil discovered and verified the cave paintings of Font-de-Gaume in Dordogne (near Lascaux), France and the skeptics of the authenticity of Altamira began to be convinced.