With a temperate climate and abundance of wild animals, the region of Cantabria in northern Spain was a good place to live during glacial periods, and has some of the highest concentrations of prehistoric art anywhere on Earth.
     Twenty years ago, a cave researcher informed archaeologists of the possible existence of ancient paintings in various rock cavities in Cantabria, but they were difficult to identify with the naked eye, and techniques available at the time were not sufficient to confirm their existence. Using a 3D laser scanning method able to detect colors beyond the range of the visible spectrum, researchers have now revealed four new sets of cave paintings.
     The drawings are estimated to have been made between 30,000 and 20,000 years ago - older than the approximately 16,000-year-old bison drawings at nearby Altamira, but not as old as the earliest examples in the region at El Castillo, which are more than 40,000 years old and arguably the oldest in the world.

Edited from International Business Times (13 September 2017)