Argentina - The Cave of the Hands

The pictures in this archeological area are the work of the Tehuelches, an American Indian tribe, and their ancestors. 

It is located in the ravine of the valley of the Alto Río Pinturas, south of the town of Perito Moreno and in Santa Cruz province. It features one of the most significant exhibit of rupestrian art of the entire Patagonia. Traces of a culture dating back 9,300 years fill the caves and the rocky sides of the ravine.

The hands and pictures of animals imprinted on the stone of the cave are the oldest expression known of a people of South America.

In 1999 UNESCO named the cave as A Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Its isolated location in the midst of the Santa Cruz steppe enables it to remain unchanged over time. The pictures in this archeological area are the work of the Tehuelches, an American Indian tribe, and their ancestors.

Apart from hands painted as the negative of a picture, one can see images of guanacos, geometrical drawings, lines, points and pictures representing the sun.