Franco-Cantabrian region

Successively, the region experienced the Chatelperronian, Aurignacian, Gravettian, Solutrean, Magdalenian, Azilian, and post Azilian geometric cultures, with their respective cultural expressions, noticeably the most famous mural art. Solutrean, Magdalenian, and Azilian cultures evolved locally in this area. ==Glacial refugium and Late Glacial population expansion==

The region may have been a major refugium for Paleolithic peoples during the Last Glacial Maximum, apparently playing a major role as source for the repopulation of Europe after that extremely cold period ended. From an archaeological viewpoint, Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel has argued that "there are grounds for considering that the Aquitaine and French-Cantabrian refuge zone, may have been the principal source of Late Glacial re-colonization". His demographic simulations, based in archaeological data, suggest that it was the most densely populated region of Europe through all the Upper Paleolithic. Kieran O'Hara has suggested in his book Cave Art and Climate Change that climate controlled the Franco-Cantabrian cave depictions. ==Dissolution of the regional homogeneity in the Neolithic==

The area became culturally divided between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic subareas during the Neolithic period, losing its homogeneity as the Eastern part strongly incorporated the Cardium pottery culture, while the Western remained less developed (subneolithic). ==Main sites==

• Altamira, Cantabria, Spain Important cave paintings • Cave of Chufín, Cantabria, Spain • Cave of El Castillo, Cantabria, Spain • Cave of La Pasiega, Cantabria, Spain • La Garma cave complex, Cantabria, Spain • Tito Bustillo Cave, Asturias, Spain • Santimamiñe, Basque Country, Spain • Aurignac, Occitanie, France • Les Trois Frères, Occitanie, France • Lascaux, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France • La Madeleine, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France • Grotte Chauvet, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France ==See also==