Cueva de las Manos, or Cave of the Hands, is one of the most important prehistoric cave art sites in South America. Though it contains depictions of humans and animals too, it is most famous for the hundreds of hands stenciled on its walls. This is the best known panel of the cave. It is located just outside the entrance to a cave shelter.
Table of Contents
S1 – Discovery
Cueva de las Manos, or Cave of the Hands, is a complex of rock art sites in the province of Santa Cruz in Argentina. It was known to the locals for many generations. Father Alberto Maria de Agostini, an Italian missionary and explorer, was the first to write about the site in 1941. In 1949, an expedition of the La Plata Museum further explored the site.
The first substantial investigation of the site began in 1964 by Argentine surveyor and archaeologist Carlos Gradin and his team. The Panel of Hand Stencil is one of the most incredible paintings at Cueva de las Manos. Apart from the famous hand impressions, the cave also has depictions of humans, birds and animals. Cueva de las Manos was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1999.
S2 – Description
There are more than 800 of colorful hand-prints stenciled on the walls of Cueva de las Manos. This is the most famous panel in the cave. It is located just outside the entrance to a cave shelter. It is covered with a concentration of stencils of hands. The cave dwellers probably used bone-made pipes to create the silhouettes. Most of the prints are of left hands which suggest that they held the spraying pipes in their right hands. The size of most hand-prints resemble that of a 13-year-old boy.
S3 – Age
The art at Cueva de las Manos dates back to 10,000 years. The depictions of animals and hunting scenes were created around 7300 BCE. The Hand Stencils are dated to around 5,000 BCE, which makes them around 7,000 years old.
S4 – Prehistoric Rock Art Purpose
S5 – Mesolithic Art Overview
Main Sources
S1:-
“Cueva de las Manos”. Bradshaw Foundation.
S2, S3:-
“La Cueva de las Manos”. Atlas Obscura.
“WHC Nomination Documentation: Proposal For The Inscription Of Cultural And Natural Properties In The Unesco World Heritage List”.