Workshops

The Origin of Symbolism in Palaeolithic Societies: A Multianalytical Approach to Cave Art Hand Stencils

Ricardo Etxepare, Aritz Irurtzun & Olga Spaey

Hand stencils are some of the most representative images of Palæolithic art. In Europe alone, over six hundred hand stencils have been attested (Groenen, 2016; Collado Giraldo, 2018) but the phenomenon of hand stenciling also extends to other regions of the world, from Patagonia (Gradin et al., 1976) to Borneo (Aubert et al., 2018) or Timor-Leste (Standish et al., 2020). In a recent study based on uranium-thorium (U-Th) dating of calcite deposits overlying a hand stencil at Maltravieso Cave (Spain), Hoffmann et al. (2018) have proposed a minimum age of 66.700 years for the stencil. Consequently, the authors attribute a Neanderthal authorship of the first parietal art in Europe. The datation (and consequent attribution) of the hand stencil has, nonetheless, been disputed (White et al., 2020), and the issue is still open to debate.

From the demographic perspective, a remarkable fact is that across the European Palæolithic caves hands of individuals of all ages are attested (hands of babies, infants, adolescents, and adults) and some studies employing Manning et al.’s (1998) 2D:4D digit ratio have attributed them to both sexes, with a majority of female hands (cf. Barrière, 1976; Bohigas Roldán et al., 1985; Groenen, 1988, 1990, 2011; Snow, 2006, 2013; Nelson et al., 2006; Foucher et al., 2007, 2013; Wang et al., 2010; Utrilla & Bea, 2015; Rabazo-Rodríguez et al., 2017). This clashes with the traditional cliché of male artists and suggests a culturally restricted and stable tradition of hand stencilling, similar to the those found in other ethnographically recorded regions, such as Aboriginal Australia (Verbrugge, 1970; Layton, 1992).

Last, there is a particularity in the Franco-Spanish region of Western Europe: several archæological sites have been shown to display hand stencils with so-called “mutilated” fingers.

Three possible interpretations have been offered for this fact:

  • Accidental (unintended) loss of fingers, arguing that it may be due to frostbite (Utrilla, 2005; Gilligan, 2010; Utrilla & Bea, 2015) or to pathological loss (mentioning conditions such as acute arteritis, syphilitic arteritis, arteriosclerosis, embolism, diabetic gangrene, obstructive thromboangiitis, severe meningococcal infection, Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome, or Raynaud’s disease, which can induce loss of phalanges or whole fingers (Janssens, 1957; Sahly, 1966; Jandeaux, 1997).

  • Deliberate mutilation, which could be for sacrificial offerings, magical and initiation rites, medical treatments, or punishments (Casteret, 1951; Breuil, 1952; Pradel, 1975; Hooper, 1980; McCauley et al., 2018).

  • Deliberate folding of one or several fingers, which are intentionally projected as a negative figure onto the wall in order to represent handshapes of a sign language (Leroi-Gourhan, 1967; Etxepare & Irurtzun, 2021).

The workshop will critically study all these aspects and propose a contemporary discussion on the nature, authorship, and symbolism of Palæolithic hand stencils. With an inter-disciplinary discussion, it will seek to provide answers to the WHO, WHEN, WHERE and WHY questions of some of our oldest artistic expressions.

Confirmed speakers: Diego Garate, Verónica Fernández-Navarro, Olga Spaey, Ricardo Etxepare & Aritz Irurtzun