Historical facts about the first imprints of people

Is it possible to touch antiquity? Not to the works of ancient sculptors and builders, but to eras long gone?

Living in the modern world, we rarely think about how long ago humans inhabited the Earth. It all began millions of years ago, when the first hominids stood on their hind legs and learned to create primitive tools. The modern age, with its writing, cities and states, is but a blink of an eye compared to the time when a few tribes of our ancestors migrated across the continents.

And they did not live in houses or shacks - there was simply no need to build them: the primitive tribes, engaged in gathering, had to constantly migrate, depending on the seasonal changes. But the rare lucky ones managed to find places where there was an abundance of food all year round and shelter close at hand. We are talking, of course, about caves - natural shelters going tens of meters deep into the rock. These are the most ancient prototypes of human settlements. Sometimes such caves could serve as a home for tribes for thousands of years. During this time, numerous traces left by the ancient people have accumulated in them, and some of them have managed to survive till our days.

One of these caves is located in the south of Argentina near the Puntaras River. Archaeologists believe that ancient people - descendants of South American Indians - inhabited it for tens of thousands of years. All over the world this cave is known as the "Cave of the Hands".

Why it received such a name becomes clear immediately at the entrance - the walls of the cave are dotted with imprints of people who lived in it. Our ancestors used natural dyes that were sprayed over the leaning palm with bone tubes. By the way, it was by their remains, found at one of the walls, scientists were able to detect the age of rock art - from 13,000 to 9,000 years.