Cueva de las Manos is a series of caves famous for the paintings of hands. It is located in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, 163 km south of the town of Perito Moreno. Dated from 13000 to 9000 years ago, it received its name, Cave of the Hands, from the stenciled outlines of human hands in the cave. There are also several depictions of animals and hunting scenes, showing interaction between mankind and animals. According to UNESCO, the paintings may have been done by the ancestors of the historic hunter-gatherer communities of Patagonia found by European settlers in the 19th century. The paintings were executed with natural mineral pigments - iron oxides (red and purple), kaolin (white), and natrojarosite (yellow), manganese oxide (black) - ground and mixed with some form of binder.

I think that Cueva de las Manos is one of the most beautiful prehistoric art. It was painted thousands of years ago, but the uniqueness of the art was still able to impress the modern world. The collection of stenciled outlines of human hands and the hunting scenes will continue to be a magnificent art, proving that people appreciated and made art even from the prehistoric eras.




Sources
Cueva de las Manos, Río Pinturas. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2017, from http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/936

Cueva de las Manos, Argentina - The Cave of the Hands. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2017, from http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/south_america/cueva_de_los_manos/index.php