Jesus Altuna is professor emeritus at the University of the Basque Country. He served as director of the scientific journal Munibe, long-time president of the Aranzadi Science Society, as well as president of the Barandiaran Foundation. He has worked on Basque archaeology and prehistory for over fifty years, and continued and expanded Barandiaran's work by specializing in cave art and animal bone archaeology. Altuna has published twelve books and numerous journal articles.