HANDEDNESS IN ROCK ART:

Stamped hand prints,

Cave of 100 Hands,

Fremont Indian State Park,

Sevier County, UT. Photo

Peter Faris, 28 May 1992.

When I was going through US Army Basic Training in 1965 at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, the new trainees were classified as being either "right-handed" or "wrong-handed". This was because our rifle of issue was the M-14, and the ejection port for the fired empty cartridge was placed in a location that a left or wrong-handed shooter would sometimes get hit in the nose with an ejected, very hot, empty cartridge. Indeed, "A study at Durham University - found that left-handed men were almost twice as likely to die in war as their right-handed contemporaries. The study theorized that this was because weapons and other equipment (were) designed for the right-handed." (Wikipedia) I mention this as an introduction to the question of handedness in rock art. Does the dominant hand leave any clues in the image being created, does it make any difference in the art itself?

Lower-left to upper-right slant,

Picketwire Canyonlands,

Las Animas county, CO. Tracing

by James Keyser and Mark Mitchell,

Photograph Peter Faris.

The basic motions used in the creation of rock art are; Flexion (bringing two body parts closer together, such as the forearm and upper arm), and Extension (increasing the space between two body parts as in straightening the elbow), as well as rotation of the arm and hand. These would cover the production of most examples of rock art. The natural easiest motion of the arm would arc between upper left to lower right and back for the left arm, and from upper right to lower left and back for the right arm. Thus, there might be clues in the orientation of images or the axis in a rock art panel caused by this fact. By axis of the rock art panel I refer to the center line of a unified composition. If individual images are added to the rock face at different times (a newspaper rock for instance) then this would not apply, but if the artist created an overall composition of many elements then the axis (center line) might slope to follow this arc of convenient arm motion. If not the center axis of the panel perhaps a slant to many of the elements of the panel might indicate that same thing. For instance: in 5LA8464, the Box Canyon site in Picketwire Canyonlands, Las Animas county, Colorado, recorded in September 1999 by a crew led by Dr. James D. Keyser and Dr. Mark Mitchell, a large elk and three of the four largest horses in the composition angle upward from lower left to upper right. This would be the natural arc of motion for a right-handed artist.

Upper-left to lower-right slant.

Keyser and Minick, 2018,

Horse Raiders in the Missouri Breaks:

Eagle Creek Canyon Petroglyphs,

Fig. 17, p. 26.

An example that might suggest a left-handed artist is a panel from Montana (illustrated in Horse Raiders of the Missouri Breaks by Keyser and Minick) which includes three equestrian figures, all of which display an upper left to lower right slant. This question of orientation of figures, or panels, providing clues to handedness is probably too weak to base assumptions on by itself, but when found with other clues can, perhaps, be considered a reinforcing argument.

Horse legs, Gargas Cave,

France, www.donsmaps.com.

According to Bahn and Vertut there are also clues to handedness that can be found in the preferred lighting of rock art panels. "In most cases, fine engravings are almost invisible when lit from the front, but 'leap out' when lit from the side. This fact is of some importance, for it provides an indication of whether the artist was right- or left-handed. Right-handed artists tend to have their light source on the left, to prevent the shadow of their hand falling on the burin (or brush), and accordingly the majority of Palaeolithic parietal engravings are best lit from the left (in portable engravings, too, the proportion of right- and left-handers is similar to that of today). Occasionally, however, one comes across the work of a southpaw - for example, the Pyrenean cave of Gargas has many engravings including a fine, detailed pair of front legs of a horse; these had been known and admired for decades; but one day, when visiting scholars lit the figure from the right instead of the left, they were suddenly confronted with the rest of the horse, which nobody had seen before! It is possible, of course, that Palaeolithic artists used the lighting of engravings to their advantage, making them appear or disappear to great effect - alas, we shall never know." (Bahn and Vertut 1997:108)

Sprayed handprints, internet

photo, public domain.

Also, if one hand is used in handling pigments or tools used to create rock art, we can assume it to have been the dominant hand. If this is the case then we may be able to make assumptions on handedness from the handprints that are so common in rock art. If the print is a direct stamping,  i.e. pigment applied to the hand and then stamped on the rock surface, then it was probably made with the dominant hand. If it is a patterned stamped handprint, then the paint was probably applied with the dominant hand to the other hand which was then stamped on the rock. An outlined handprint, I will assume, is made by using the dominant hand to draw around the other hand held to the rock surface. An orally-sprayed handprint could well have been made with either hand.

Gower Cave rock art, Swansea,

South Wales, Britain.

Dr. George Nash.

www.heritagedaily.com

Another example of evidence of "handedness" in rock art is illustrated by the discovery of a reindeer wall engraving in a cave in South Wales in Britain by Dr. George Nash from the University of Bristol. "Dr. Nash discovered the faint scratchings of a speared reindeer while visiting the Gower Peninsula caves near Swansea in September 2010. - This drawing appears to have (been) engraved by an artist using his or her right hand as the panel on which it is carved is located in a very tight niche." (Heritage Daily 2011) So the handedness of this artist can be deduced by the location of the image itself. In this case it must have been on the left wall of a narrow niche so that only the right hand could conveniently access it.

So, does any of this matter? Who cares whether the people producing rock art were right or left-handed? Well, aside from anthropologists who love this sort of thing, it provides us with tangible evidence that the people who produced the rock art were pretty much just like us. And, that being the case, perhaps we can more appreciate their thoughts and beliefs.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Bahn, Paul G., and Jean Vertut,

1997 Journey Through The Ice Age, University of California Press, Los Angeles.

Heritage Daily,

2011 Archaeologist's Chance Discovery May Be Britain's Earliest Example of Rock Art, https://www.heritagedaily.com/2011/08/archaeologist%e2%80%99s-chance-discovery-may-be-britains-earliest-example-of-rock-art/7067

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handedness

Keyser, James D., and David L. Minick

2018 Horse Raiders in the Missouri Breaks: Eagle Creek Canyon Petroglyphs, Montana, Publication #25, Oregon Archaeological Society, Portland.