Cueva de las Manos
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Cueva de las Manos, archaeological site comprising a stunning collection of cave art, perhaps best known for featuring more than 2,000 black, white, red, yellow, and purple stenciled handprints dating back more than 9,000 years. There are also depictions of geometric shapes, zigzag patterns, red dots representing the Sun, hunting scenes, and animals such as guanacos, rheas, and cats. The cave is located in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, in the canyon of the Río Pinturas (Pinturas River) between the towns of Perito Moreno and Bajo Caracoles.
The hand motif
Cueva de las Manos is named for the stenciled hands created in a variety of pleasing hues in and around the cave. The paintings are some of the finest examples of a common motif found in rock art over thousands of years and from around world, from Australia to parts of Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Men, women, and children all created hand art by either painting the hand and then placing it on the surface of a cave wall, outlining the hand with a brush, engraving the outline of the hand, or blowing natural pigment through a reed around the hand to create a stencil. The last technique is the most common method artists used at the Cueva de las Manos. Artists typically used iron oxides to create red and purple, kaolin for white, natrojarosite for yellow, and manganese oxide for black.
Stylistic groups
Although the Cueva de las Manos is best known for the stenciled hands, the site comprises a variety of subjects. During a 30-year study (1964–94) of the art, archaeologist Carlos Gradin and his team identified three main stylistic groups: Stylistic Group A (beginning c. 7,300 bce; known locally as Río Pinturas I), Stylistic Group B (beginning c. 5,000 bce; Río Pinturas II–III), and Stylistic Group C (beginning c. 700 ce; Río Pinturas IV).
The earliest grouping, Stylistic Group A, dates back to about 7,300 bce, when the first hunters and gatherers inhabited the area. The art comprises mainly hunting scenes, often showing single hunters or groups of hunters targeting guanacos, a type of mammal that is part of the camel family. The artists sometimes used the natural grooves, protuberances, or other features of the cave wall to reflect the topographical features of the landscape. One drawing, for example, uses a crack in the rock wall to represent a ravine, into which hunters chase their prey.
Starting about 5,000 bce, hunting scenes are replaced by figures of motionless guanacos with protuberant abdomens. Scholars have defined these paintings as part of Stylistic Group B. This collection also features large concentrations of overlapping hand stencils in a variety of colors, which include purple, red, yellow, white, and black. About 1330 bce the art of the cave walls became more schematic with scenes of stylized figures of animals and humans. This grouping has been classified as Stylistic Group B1 (Río Pinturas III). Other features include dotted lines, stenciled hands, and a stencil of the foot of a rhea, a type of ostrich.
The final collection, Stylistic Group C, began about 700 ce. The art of this period is notable for its use of bright red pigments to create zigzags, circles, and dots as well as silhouettes of humans and animals. Archaeological research supported by carbon dating suggests that the Cueva de las Manos was last inhabited about this time, possibly by the ancestors of the first Tehuelche people of Patagonia.
Purpose
The purpose of the art at Cueva de las Manos is unknown, but scholars have proposed several theories. One hypothesis puts forth the idea that the paintings were made during religious ceremonies prior to hunts. Another suggests that the art served to mark boundaries between different peoples, while other theories attribute the paintings to shamanism. Scholars have also observed that most of the stenciled hands are of the left hand and of a size corresponding to adolescent boys. Consequently, some have suggested that the stenciled hands may have been part of a rite of passage. Many have also speculated that the hand motif is a kind of signature meant to record the existence of a specific individual.
UNESCO World Heritage site
The Cueva de las Manos was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1999 for its cultural, historic, and scientific significance. During the nomination process, International Council on Monuments and Sites representative Henry Cleere spoke about the site’s importance, stressing the beauty and state of conservation of the paintings and the site’s magnificent collection of handprints and hunting scenes.