CUEVA DE LAS MANOS

Cueva de las Manos is a cave located in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, within the borders of the Francisco P. Moreno National Park, which includes many sites of archaeological and paleontogical importance. It is famous for the paintings of hands. The art in the cave dates from 13,000 to 9,000 years ago. Several waves of people occupied the cave, and early artwork has been carbon-dated to c

a. 9300 BP. The age of the paintings was calculated from the remains of bone-made pipes used for spraying the paint on the wall blocked by the hand.
The images of hands are often negative (stencilled). Besides these there are also depictions of human beings, guanacos, rheas, felines and other animals, as well as geometric shapes, zigzag patterns, representations of the sun, and hunting scenes. Similar paintings, though in smaller numbers, can be found in nearby caves. There are also red dots on the ceilings, probably made by submerging their hunting bolas in ink, and then throwing them up. The colours of the paintings vary from red (made from hematite) to white, black or yellow. The negative hand impressions are calculated to be dated around 550 BC, the positive impressions from 180 BC, and the hunting drawings to be older than 10,000 years.