Altamira (Spanish for 'high view') is located near the town of Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain, 30 km west of the city of Santander.
In 1879, Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola discovered that the cave contains Upper Paleolithic drawings and polychrome rock paintings depicting bison, horses, other wild animals, and human hands. The paintings are listed on UNESCO's inventory of the human cultural heritage.
The cave is 270 meters long, and the main passage varies from two to six meters high.
Archeological excavations in the cave floor found rich deposits of Solutrean and Magdalenean artifacts.