In the remote reaches of southern Argentina, where the dry steppe meets jagged canyon cliffs, Cueva de las Manos clings to the rock face above the Pinturas River. Inside, the walls burst with color and form…. hundreds of stenciled human hands, most of them left hands, each a ghostly silhouette created more than 9,000 years ago.

Radiocarbon dating confirms the oldest images were made around 7300 BCE. The artists were early hunter-gatherers, likely ancestral to the Tehuelche people, who used this shelter during seasonal migrations. Their lives revolved around tracking guanaco herds, and this cave became a place not just for survival, but for expression.

These stencils were created by blowing mineral pigments through hollow bone tubes over hands pressed to the wall. The result: negative space in the unmistakable shape of human fingers. Most are left hands, suggesting the artists used their dominant right hands to spray.

Some figures show fingers folded down, not due to injury, but likely as part of a symbolic code. Alongside the hands are hunting scenes of humans chasing guanacos with bolas, abstract shapes, and zig-zagging lines. The cave was decorated over thousands of years, a multi-generational mural.

Perched 100 feet above the Pinturas River, the cave offered both protection and a strategic view of the canyon below. Archaeological evidence suggests it was a seasonal camp and meeting place.

Why stencil hands? Scholars believe they may have marked identity, recorded rituals, or conveyed messages across generations. There are few places on Earth where prehistoric people left such a direct imprint of their bodies.

Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, Cueva de las Manos remains one of the most important prehistoric art sites in the Americas. Its palette of red ochre, white kaolin, black manganese oxide, and yellow natrojarosite has remained vivid thanks to the dry Patagonian climate.

For those who make the long journey to this remote canyon, the experience is unforgettable.

Until next time,

Emails From Afar Team

While this newsletter brings you the magic, the strange, and the downright odd by email, Letters From Afar takes it a step further—with real letters sent through the mail.

Our snail mail subscription whisks you away to the world’s most exciting destinations, one handwritten letter at a time.

Written from the perspective of an explorer from the past, each letter invites you to journey to distant lands through the most old-world form of communication: a letter delivered to your door.