Altamira

American  

[al-tuh-meer-uh, ahl-tah-mee-rah] / ˌæl təˈmɪər ə, ˌɑl tɑˈmi rɑ /

noun

1. a cave in northern Spain, near Santander, noted for its Upper Paleolithic polychrome paintings of bison, deer, and pigs.

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Altamira British  

/ altaˈmira /

noun

1. a cave in N Spain, SW of Santander, noted for Old Stone Age wall drawings

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Example Sentences

Spectacular Ice Age cave art in places like Altamira and El Castillo encouraged the idea that symbolism and art switched on almost overnight in Ice Age Europe.

From BBC • Jan. 21, 2026

At the top there is, like frosting on a cake, shale mud, Altamira Shale, the sedimentary legacy of those seabed millennia.

From Los Angeles Times • May 3, 2024

The territories are located around the municipalities of Sao Felix do Xingu, Altamira, Anapu and Senador Jose Porfirio in Para state.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 2, 2023

My colleague Grant Smith did a pretty interesting analysis to simulate what would happen if a virus emerged in this town in the Amazon called Altamira.

From Slate • May 30, 2023

The creators of the cave paintings of Chauvet, Lascaux and Altamira almost certainly intended them to last for generations.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari