Cueva de las Manos
The Cueva de las Manos ( Spanish for "cave of the hands") is a cave in southwest Argentina , located in the north of the province of Santa Cruz . It is known for its cave paintings and was therefore declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999 .
The cave got its name because a large part of the cave paintings consists of hand negatives .
location
The cave is about 20 meters deep, 10 meters high and 15 meters wide. It is located in the gorge of the Río Pinturas , a tributary of the Río Deseado , the most important river in the north of the province. The area around the gorge is a steppe-like, slightly hilly Meseta landscape.
155 km north is the small town of Perito Moreno , which is the starting point for tourist tours to the cave.
Discovery and Exploration
The cave was discovered in 1941 by the monk Alberto M. de Agostini, who was the first to photograph it. Around 1950 it was researched by archaeologists, including Rex González and Milcíades Vignati. From the 1960s on, the topographer and archaeologist Carlos J. Gradin should be highlighted as an explorer of the cave and the surrounding region.
Cave paintings
The paintings date from 7,000 to 1,000 BC. They are divided into three groups, which are labeled A, B, and C, depending on their style.
Although the Cueva de las Manos is the most important site, there are also comparable paintings in other caves and on rock faces in the gorge. The color of the paintings consists of plaster of paris and iron oxides (hematite).
Group A
Group A is the one with the highest artistic level. It mainly consists of hunting scenes in which guanacos and people are depicted, the people being painted smaller than the guanacos. The human figures are shown in several poses, which reveal a remarkable ability to represent 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, depictions of guanacos, prints of hands and various abstract depictions such as circles, spirals, rows of dots, serpentine lines and rectangles. The paintings are black and purple in color.
Group C
Group C consists of representations of hands in negative form, i.e. the outline of the hand was represented by painting over it, as well as relatively large human figures. The hand representations of this kind are only known to this day in this cave. Red tones dominate.
Handprints, footprints located between those of Nandu are -Pfoten
Cave paintings in the Cueva de las Manos, Río Pinturas, Argentina
Group B
Group B
Group B
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Cueva de las Manos: Historia de las Investigaciones en la Cueva de las Manos. Retrieved January 13, 2019 (Spanish).
- ↑ Arqueología MDQ: Alberto Rex González 1918-2012. March 29, 2012, Retrieved January 13, 2019 (Spanish).
- ↑ Page 12: Manos rupuestres. April 18, 2004, accessed January 13, 2019 (Spanish).
Coordinates: 47 ° 9 ′ 18.2 ″ S , 70 ° 39 ′ 21.9 ″ W.
Cultural heritage: Jesuit reductions of the Guaraní (1983) | Cueva de las Manos (1999) | Jesuit Bloc and Estanzias of Cordoba (2000) | Quebrada de Humahuaca (2003) | Qhapaq Ñan - Andean Road System (2014) | The architectural work of Le Corbusier : Casa Curutchet (2016)
Natural heritage: Los Glaciares National Park (1981) | Iguazú National Park (with the Iguazú waterfalls ) (1984) | Peninsula Valdés (1999) | Ischigualasto and Talampaya National Parks (2000) | Los Alerces National Park (2017)