Cueva de las Manos, famous for its stenciled hand paintings, is in Argentina. The cave and surrounding rock-art complex lie in Santa Cruz Province in Patagonia, in the canyon of the Pinturas River.
Its name means “Cave of the Hands” in Spanish. The walls contain hundreds of hand stencils, made by blowing or spraying pigment around a hand pressed against the rock. The artwork also depicts guanacos, rheas, human figures, and hunting scenes, offering clues about the lives and symbolism of ancient hunter-gatherers.
The paintings were created in several stages from about 7,300 BC to AD 700. Archaeologists have used radiocarbon dating, stratigraphy, and evidence such as bone pipes used to spray pigment to establish their age. Many of the hands are left hands, suggesting that artists often held the spray tube in their right hand.
The site is not in the more frequently visited parts of Argentina around Buenos Aires or the Andes resort towns. It is an isolated Patagonian heritage site and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.