Cueva de las Manos
The Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for " Cave of the Hands " ) is a cave in the southwest of Argentina, located in the north of the province of Santa Cruz. It is known for its cave paintings, and was therefore declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.
Its name from the cave, as a large part of the cave paintings consists of hand negatives.
Location
The cave is situated in the canyon of the Río Pinturas, a tributary of the Río Deseado, the most important river in the north of the province. The surroundings of the gorge is a steppe -like, slightly hilly landscape Meseta.
155 km north is the small town of Perito Moreno, which is the starting point for tourist visits to the cave.
Discovery
The cave was discovered in 1941 by a monk, who photographed the first. She was examined in 1949 by researchers Rex González, 1967 by Escalada in detail.
Cave paintings
The paintings dated 7000-1000 BC. They are divided into three groups depending on the style, carrying the letters A, B, and C.
Although the Cueva de las Manos is the most important archaeological site, but also exist in other caves and on cliffs in the gorge similar paintings. The color of the paintings consists of gypsum and iron.
Group A
The group A is the one with the highest artistic level. It consists mainly of hunting scenes in which people and guanacos are shown, while the people are less painted than the guanaco. The human figures are depicted in a number of poses which reveal a remarkable representational capacity for mobility. The paintings in this group are black, yellow ocher, light red and purple.
Group B
In Group B, there are mainly static human figures with small heads, representations of guanacos, imprints of hands and various abstract representations, such as circles, spirals, rows of dots, wavy lines and rectangles. The paintings are decorated in color in black and purple.
Group C
Group C consists of representations of hands in a negative way, so it is the outline of the hand was represented by overpainting, and relatively large human figures. The hand - representations of this kind are known today only in this cave. It is dominated by red hues.
Cave paintings in the Cueva de las Manos, Río Pinturas, Argentina
Group B
Group B
Group B