Así, con estos últimos estudios, conocemos en la cueva de Altamira un total de nueve manos, todas ellas pintadas, de las que dos están realizadas por impresión de la mano sobre la roca (manos en positivo), y otras siete son siluetas, es decir pintando o soplando pintura a su alrededor (manos en negativo). Respecto a su localización ocho de ellas se encuentran en el techo de los polícromos y una de ellas en la Galería Final.

En el techo de polícromos, donde tres de las manos son perfectamente visibles, existen otras cinco, todas ellas en negativo, prácticamente invisibles a nuestra vista.

Entre las inéditas, la que denominamos “mano 3” está aerografiada en color negro y se ha podido identificar incluso la huella del antebrazo; así mismo la “mano 4” está aerografiada, en color rojo violáceo, estando muy perdida y por ello solo se pueden observar tres de los cinco dedos.

Respecto a la mano ubicada en la Galería Final, además de su peculiar ubicación en lo más profundo de la cavidad, presenta la peculiaridad de estar realizada en color negro y ser de pequeño tamaño, por lo que se puede considerar una mano infantil (de un niño o niña de entorno a 7 u 8 años pues su longitud es de 8 cm.).

Todos estos trabajos de localización e identificación han sido realizados sobre las imágenes fotográficas de Pedro Saura.

Fuente: Museo de Altamira (Facebook). Reproducido con permiso de la dirección del Museo.

Manos pintadas en la cueva Altamira. Painted hands in Altamira cave. Credit: Pedro Saura, Museo Nacional de Altamira

Three new painted hands discovered in the Altamira cave 

On 26/01/19 the conference «Handpas. Las manos de la cueva de Altamira» was given by the coordinator of the European project «Handpas Project. Hands of the past» Hipólito Collado and the deputy director of the National Museum of Altamira Carmen de las Heras.

They presented the results of the investigation of the mentioned project, with special attention to the news that the study of the Altamira cave art has thrown.

Regarding Altamira’s painted hands, the main news are the location of several hands which had already been identified by researchers like Breuil and Obermaier and that -due to their poor preservation condition- had not been able to be located, and the identification of several hands that were not previously known, all by means to new techniques of digital image analysis that allow us to see what the eye does not see.

Thus, with the latest studies, we now know in the Altamira cave a total of nine hands, all painted, of which two are made by printing the hand on the rock (positive hand prints), and another seven are silhouettes, which are made by painting or blowing paint around it (negative hand stencils). Regarding their location, eight of them are on the polychrome ceiling and one of them in the Final Gallery.

On the polychrome ceiling, where three of the hands are perfectly visible, there are five others, all of them in negative, practically invisible to our sight.

Among the unpublished ones, the one we call «hand 3» is airbrushed in black and even the print of the forearm was able to being identified; likewise the «hand 4» is airbrushed, in violet red color, and it is quite damaged hence only three of the five fingers can be observed.

Regarding the hand located in the Final Gallery, in addition to its peculiar location in the deepest part of the cave, it has the singularity of being made in black and of small size, so it can be considered a child’s hand (of a boy or girl around 7 or 8 years old, as its length is 8 cm.).

All the work of location and identification was carried out on the photographic images of Pedro Saura.

Source: Altamira Museum (Facebook). Reproduced and translated with the permission of the Museum director.