Cueva de las Manos is a cave and complex of rock art sites in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, 163 km (101 mi) south of the town of Perito Moreno. It is named for the hundreds of paintings of hands stenciled, in multiple collages, on the rock walls. The art was created in several waves between 7,300 BC and 700 AD, during the Archaic period of pre-Columbian South America. The age of the paintings was calculated from the remains of bone pipes used for spraying the paint on the wall of the cave to create the artwork, radiocarbon dating of the artwork, and stratigraphic dating.
Hands, stenciled at the Cave of the Hands
Pinturas Canyon, view from the caves
Entrance to Cueva de las Manos
The entrance of the cave
Santa Cruz Province, Argentina
Santa Cruz Province is a province of Argentina, located in the southern part of the country, in Patagonia. It borders Chubut Province to the north, and Chile to the west and south, with an Atlantic coast on its east. Santa Cruz is the second-largest province of the country, and the least densely populated in mainland Argentina.
View of Mount Fitz Roy
Ochre-ink art in Cueva de las Manos, Santa Cruz. Made by the long-vanished Toldense people, they are 13,000–9,000 years old.
Scene from La Patagonia rebelde. Based on an ill-fated local strike in 1922, the 1974 epic was made with the encouragement of Santa Cruz's governor.
Néstor and Cristina Kirchner (center) in conference with fellow Patagonia-area lawmakers.
