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88 w i n t e r 2 014 U n tac k e d tHE HorsE in art o ne April day in 1968, a group of young spanish cave explorers rap- pelled down an unassuming sink- hole in the northern part of their country, and what they found upon hitting bottom would inspire many questions that are still unanswered today, nearly 50 years later. But a half-century is but the blink of an eye in the paleolithic history of the tito Bustillo cave, named in honor of one of the explorers who discovered the chamber that day, only to die in a climbing accident shortly thereafter. researchers would eventually dis- cover that this cavern had not only been occupied by early humans, it had also served as both a shelter and canvas for an amazingly artistic and creative civiliza- tion. today tito Bustillo is judged to be the earliest human-made exhibition of art—up to 40,000 years old. And while the cave paintings deep underground near the village of ribadesella, on spain's northern coast, reveal a beautiful and odd mix of motifs includ- ing stenciled hands, vulvas, anthropomorphic figures and red dots, what stands out most is the amazing gal- lery of equine figures. While the majority of tito Bustillo's horse fig- ures were probably done 11,000 to 15,000 years ago, some may date back 18,000 years. ese horses— both drawn and painted—appear in a variety of poses, from profiled representations of the head and chest to fully fleshed-out figures. in some illustrations, eyes, manes and tails are visible, while in others they are

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