La cueva de Tito Bustillo. Ribadesella. Asturias

The Tito Bustillo cave is the centre of a complex made up of at least twelve caves, six of which contain remains of wall decoration. Many of them were already known, but our cave was discovered in 1968 by the Torreblanca speleological group, of which Celestino Fernández Bustillo, Tito Bustillo, was a member for whom the cave is named. The excavations, started by M. A. García Guinea in 1970, were carried out in the Main Gallery or Decoration Area, and in the old entrance, or the Stay Area. J. Alfonso Moure Romanillo continued them from 1972 to 1988. In 1974, the artistic documentation began, under the direction of Rodrigo de Balbín Behrmann and J. A. Moure Romanillo, and lasted until 1981. Since 1998, we have resumed excavations in the Hall of the old entrance, in the Area of Stay, at some distance from the excavations of A. Moure, and in the Ensemble V, inside the Gallery of the Anthropomorphs. In this second moment, we prospected the whole Massif, and we probed La Cuevona and La Lloseta. This stage was directed by Rodrigo de Balbín Behrmann and J. Javier Alcolea González until 2007. Our intention from 1998 was to integrate Tito Bustillo into the Ardines massif, and to examine all the occupied caves together, to get an idea of the whole. To do this, we prospected in the following caves: La Lloseta, La Cuevona, Les Pedroses, El Cierru, Cova Rosa, Cueva de Pandu, Cueva de San Antonio, Cueva del Tenis o La Viesca, Cuevas de Los Fornos y El Cuetu, Cueva del Cuetu de La Hoz, Cueva del Fresnu, Cueva del Requexau, Cantera de Corcubión.Consejería de Cultura, Política Lingüística y Turismo, a través de la Sociedad Pública de Gestión y Promoción Turística y Cultural del Principado de Asturia