Cave of Hands: Ultra-Soft Premium Cotton T-Shirt
This design is inspired by 10.000 year old stenciled handprints found in the Cave of Hands in Argentina.
Cueva de las Manos is one of the most significant rock art sites in Argentine Patagonia. It's located in the Río Pinturas Canyon, in the Santa Cruz province.
Although its name suggests a single cave, the site is actually a vast rock art complex extending across rock shelters, natural walls, and overhangs, alongside the cave itself.
The sequence of rock art here spans a long period, dating from about 9,300 to 1,300 years ago.
Most of the hand stencils at the site are left hands. That's because the people spraying the pigment would hold a tube or a hollow bone in their right hand while pressing their left hand against the rock.
Most of these hands were made using a negative stencil technique. In this method, the person places their hand against the rock and sprays mineral pigment around it; when the hand is pulled away, a hand-shaped, usually light-colored blank space is left on the wall.
The colors are really impressive.
But how did people back then get these colors?
Red and purple tones came from iron oxides, white from kaolin, yellow from natrojarosite, and black from manganese oxide. The pigments were ground up, mixed with a binder, and applied to the rock. So, these rock paintings are also a product of material knowledge and technical skill.
Thanks to factors like low humidity and a lack of water seepage, the rock paintings - except for the most exposed ones - have been preserved to this day.