Cueva de las Manos and the handprints of Río Pinturas

Cueva de las Manos in Santa Cruz province is a rock-art site in the Río Pinturas canyon, near Perito Moreno. Its walls carry hand stencils, animal figures and hunting scenes from the ancient past.

Hand stencils in the Río Pinturas canyon

The site is known for overlapping handprints in red, white, yellow, black and purple, arranged across rock shelters and a cave. The name comes from those stencilled hands, which remain the most recognisable feature of the placeWorld Heritage listing.

The rock art also includes guanacos, hunters and geometric motifs. UNESCO describes the assemblage as having been executed between 13,000 and 9,500 years ago13,000 and 9,500 years ago.

Rock art, hunters and painted animals

The paintings are set in a canyon landscape where cliff faces and rock shelters form the setting for the imagery. Britannica notes that the cave art includes more than 2,000 stencilled handprints and also depicts animals and hunting scenesmore than 2,000 handprints.

The human figures and animals sit beside one another rather than in separate galleries, and the repeated hand stencils dominate the visual field. The site’s wider record includes named stylistic phases studied by archaeologists, with imagery spanning long periods of occupationstylistic phases.

From provincial monument to World Heritage site

Cueva de las Manos was declared a National Historic Monument in 1993 and inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999. Those dates place the site within Argentina’s protected heritage system and within UNESCO’s global register of rock artNational Historic Monument.

The protected area belongs to the cultural landscape of Santa Cruz and sits in the canyon of the Pinturas River. Argentina’s tourism ministry places it 120 kilometres from Perito Moreno and describes a 1.5-kilometre route through shelters and rock faces120 kilometres from Perito Moreno.

Visiting Cueva de las Manos: what travellers from Western Europe should know

• The site lies in Santa Cruz province, near Perito Moreno, in the canyon of the Pinturas River. Access uses Ruta Nacional 40 and then a gravel detour toward the rock shelters.
• The terrain includes canyon walls, shelters and a walking route through the archaeological area. The setting is remote and the approach is on unsealed road for part of the journey.
• The official language is Spanish and the currency is the Argentine peso.
• Entry requirements depend on your nationality; UK travellers can check the FCDO travel advice at gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice, Irish travellers the Department of Foreign Affairs at ireland.ie.

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Frequently asked questions about Cueva de las Manos

Where is Cueva de las Manos?

It lies in Santa Cruz province in Argentina, near Perito Moreno, in the Río Pinturas canyon. The site forms part of a protected archaeological landscape.

What should visitors expect?

The place combines rock shelters, a cave and a walking route through a canyon setting. The route crosses unsealed ground and reaches the decorated rock faces.

What makes it distinctive?

The hand stencils are its clearest visual signature, joined by animals and hunting scenes. UNESCO records the art as a major cave-art assemblage from the prehistoric past.