The Cave of the Hands
In a Patagonian canyon, hundreds of hands, most of them left hands, were stencilled on a cave wall thousands of years ago.
What was reported
Cueva de las Manos, 'Cave of the Hands', in the canyon of the Río Pinturas in southern Argentina, is famous for hundreds of stencilled hands in red, white, black and yellow, made by blowing paint through a tube around hands pressed to the rock.
Most are left hands, suggesting the painters held the blowpipe in their right. The cave also shows hunting scenes of guanacos, painted by hunter-gatherers between about 9,000 and 1,000 years ago.
Explanations offered
The meaning of the hands is unknown; ideas include rites of passage or marks of a group's presence. The cave is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- When
- Painted from about 9,000 years ago
- Where
- Río Pinturas, Santa Cruz, Argentina
- Witnesses
- Archaeologists
- Status
- Partly explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.