(Photograph) - BYLINE:During the last ice age, between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago, groups of hunter-gatherers crossed the Bering Straits from Asia to Alaska on what was then a solid bridge of land or ice. They were the first humans to live in the Americas. Over thousands of years, different ethnic groups made their way down the huge land mass.
Patagonia, the vast, arid plain at the end of South America which is now part of Argentina, was settled by an immensely tall people (skeletons show they had an average height of 6ft 10in) known as the Tehuelche. They were nomadic, leaving few structures other than pyramidal burial mounds and circular stone shelters. But they left many cave paintings and imprints, the most famous of which are to be found at the Cuevas de las Manos (Caves of the Hands).
It looks as if those long-ago artists had fun, blowing pigment from a straw over their hands against the cave walls, not unlike reception class activities today. Although the paintings cannot be dated accurately, they are thought to be about 7,500 years old. Other images depict animals and peoples, hunting scenes and landscapes.
The Tehuelche hunted guanacos and ostriches, but made little impression on a land swept by winds and subject to cold winters. Western explorers and settlers left them alone, but in the 18th century another people, the Mapuche, invaded. Having been forced off their own land in Chile by the Spaniards, the short, squat Mapuches imposed their own farming-based culture on Patagonia and, through a mixture of extermination and intermarriage, extinguished the tall, thin Tehuelches.
Knowledge of Tehuelche culture also vanished. Patagonia was eventually settled by waves of emigres - including a contingent from Wales - who were all dependent on sheep and goat farming. About 40,000 Mapuches live in the area today, with the odd very tall person a reminder of the long-gone Tehuelche.
At the turn of the last century, the explorer lberto Maria De Agostini discovered the Cuevas de las Manos. Since then, rock art has become a major tourist attraction, with the cave paintings of Argentina designated a World Heritage Site by Unesco and archaeology one of Argentina’s few growth industries.
No one knows why this group of people spent their time sheltering from cold winds in a cave making paintings of their hands, although it is probable they were part of some kind of religious ritual.
Artistically, some of the South American cave paintings are as impressive as the more famous ones in France. The handprints, too, exude a sense of fun and pattern, in their different shades of ground minerals (iron oxides, mostly). Were the Cuevas de las Manos an early example of Changing Rooms? Photograph by Philip and Karen Smith
Victoria Neumark
Weblinks
For information on Patagonia: www.patagonia-argentina.com For rock art: http:anthro.orgrockart.html
For theories on rock art and articles (in Spanish): http:rupestreweb.tripod.com and http:rupestre.web
Educational site on cave paintings in France for younger pupils: http:www.culture.frculturearcnatlascauxenf-dec.htm
French cave paintings for older children: http:www.culture.gouv.frculturearcnatchauvetenindex.html
