Trips in Patagonia Argentina:
Tucked away in the arid west of Santa Cruz is one of the most attractive and intriguing landmarks of Patagonia Argentina: the Cave of the Hands, one of the manifestations of rock art in the world, which includes hundreds of artistic expression with more than 9,000 years old, conducted by the first Patagonian cultures.
Cave of the hands in Patagonia Argentina
The cave is located in the canyon of the river valley paintings, 170 meters deep in an area where the red queen of the southern steppe, and was discovered by Francisco Moreno, Perito, in 1876.The site is part of the tour of the legendary Route 40 (in this case at the junction with Provincial Highway 43), the footpath across the country from north to south following closely the majestic Andes. The nearest town to the cave is Perito Moreno, 160 km, and the nearest airport is in Comodoro Rivadavia (400 km) on the Atlantic Ocean.
The Cave of the Hands of High River Pinturas, that is his full name, not an archaeological discovery and why it was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1999. These inscriptions of hands, made animals and geometric figures on the rock are considered the oldest expression of the peoples of South America. In fact, the entire area, including the Perito Moreno National Park, is a rich archaeological and paleontological site. The corridor also integrates to Painted Rock, Charcamata, Cave Creek Grande Page. For this reason the town of Perito Moreno is called the archaeological capital of Santa Cruz.
In fact, there are vestiges of the region was inhabited 14,000 years before Christ. There were found fossils that would be the testimony of the existence of a prehistoric sea, long before man appeared.
What is in the walls of the cave paintings are works of river cultures tehuelches and its predecessors. The age of the paintings becomes of 9,300 years. You can see handprints negative (resting on the wall and then paint the outline) and positive (paint-soaked hands were resting on the stone). Have been accounted for 829 of these images, which have become famous to the Cave of the Hands. Also printed pictures of guanacos, geometric patterns, clusters of lines, dots and solar figure. Included are scenes of hunting, snakes, fertility-related reasons, footprints of rheas, ostriches, pumas, ritual dances and games and shadow.
Patagonia Argentina Cuevas de las Manos
The collective hunting scenes are present, as well as human figures represented by general linear forms. Geometric shapes, including spirals stand, would account for the deities of the time. The color of the negative marks hands depended on obtaining raw materials close to each site. In general it is for red hematite, limestone for White, manganese or charcoal for black and yellow limonite or ocher yellow. Also used as components of painting fruits, plants, rocks, ground and animal blood. The way in which these paintings were made, which often overlap, including methods similar to what is now called airbrushing, as the color material came to the wall as a sort of aerosol after being blown through small holes animal bones.
Most motifs were found in the cave itself, the so-called Cave of the Hands, which has 24 meters of depth and between 10 and 15 meters wide.
The Cave of the Hands is part of a series of American archeological sites including Monte Verde may be cited in Chile, Pedra Furada in Brazil; and Stone Museum in Argentina. All these findings are valid to question the traditional theory of the late settlement of America, and served in exchange for support for a theory of early settlement.
