Stencilled hands
Hundreds in colour.
Mariano — Public domain · Suzko — CC BY-SA 3.0 · LuigiStudio — CC BY-SA 4.0 · rodoluca — CC BY-SA 3.0
Cueva de las Manos, the Cave of the Hands, is a cave and group of rock art sites in the Pinturas river canyon in Santa Cruz province, named for the hundreds of hands stencilled on its rock walls in overlapping collages of red, white, black and yellow. They were made in successive waves between about 7300 BC and AD 700. Their age was worked out from the remains of bone pipes used to spray paint onto the wall, from radiocarbon dating and from the layers of the ground, and the most important studies were begun by the archaeologist Carlos Gradin in 1964. Besides the hands there are paintings of guanacos and hunting scenes. Some scholars regard it as the best material evidence of South America's early hunter-gatherers, and it is a national historic monument and a World Heritage Site. Visits are guided only, in small groups, without touching the rock or crossing the barriers. The access is a long gravel road across the steppe from Route 40 with no services on the way, so fill up and carry water.
Hundreds in colour.
Guanacos.
A dramatic setting.
Pinturas river canyon, south of the town of Perito Moreno, Santa Cruz
No. Visits are guided only, in small groups, and touching the rock or crossing the barriers is not allowed.