Squeezing into this tight passage was worth it. I found a number of cave symbols here.


Cave Hunting My guide, Gustavo, and I stand at the mouth of a cave in northern Spain. It’s called El Portillo. People lived on this land 40,000 years ago. We know they were here from the evidence they leſt behind. Stone tools and animal bones have been found on sites throughout Northern Europe. Burial grounds and caves, too. Many cave walls hold clues to the past in their p in ings a


eir paintings and engravings.


I want a glimpse of this world. I


follow Gustavo into the cave. T e chamber is about 6 meters wide. I spot an opening at the back wall.


“Gustavo, is this where we’re going?” I ask. “Yes,” he answers. “I hate this cave. Deep mud and very small.” Gustavo backs into the opening,


lowering his legs into the tight space. He wriggles down and disappears. T en he calls up. It’s my turn.


Genevieve Von Petzinger is a paleoanthropologist. She studies the origins of our human ancestors using fossils and other remains.


18 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER


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