June 16, 2009--Inside France's 25,000-year-old Pech Merle cave, hand
stencils surround the famed "Spotted Horses" mural.
For about as long as humans have created works of art, they've also
left behind handprints. People began stenciling, painting, or chipping
imprints of their hands onto rock walls at least 30,000 years ago.
Until recently, most scientists assumed these prehistoric handprints
were male. But "even a superficial examination of published photos
suggested to me that there were lots of female hands there,"
Pennsylvania State University archaeologist Dean Snow said of European
cave art.
By measuring and analyzing the Pech Merle hand stencils, Snow found
that many were indeed female--including those pictured here. (Also
see: pictures of hand stencils through time.)
Analyzing hand stencils dating back some 28,000 years in Spain's El
Castillo cave, archaeologist Dean Snow concluded many of El Castillo's
artists had been female.
"The very long ring finger on the left is a dead giveaway for male
hands," he said. "The one on the right has a long index finger and a
short pinky--thus very feminine."
His findings suggest women's role in prehistoric culture may have been
greater than previously thought.
Just as in prehistoric times, visitors today can leave behind
handprints at Spain's Maltravieso cave, a Paleolithic site dating back
more than 20,000 years. "Elena's hand [pictured] was typical for
little girls," said Snow.
Hand proportions vary across populations. To assess prehistoric
handprints from Europe, Snow used modern hands for comparison.
"I had access to lots of people of European descent who were willing
to let me scan their hands as reference data," said Snow, whose
research was supported by the National Geographic Society's Committee
for Research and Exploration. (The National Geographic Society owns
National Geographic News.)
In France's Gargas cave, a late Paleolithic left-hand stencil glows
green from a night vision camera. Archaeologist Dean Snow concluded
the hand was female.
"We don't know what the roles of artists were in Upper Paleolithic
society [roughly 40,000 to 20,000 years ago] generally," he said. "But
it's a step forward to be able to say that a strong majority of them
were women."
Snow's research was limited to Europe, but he hopes others will do
similar studies at prehistoric sites elsewhere.
(Also see: pictures of hand stencils through time.)
Nat Geo
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