Arte
The ancient inhabitants of Patagonia painted representations of their cosmic vision on the walls of the rock shelters they inhabited, illustrating the high degree of ideological complexity that they had already achieved. The most common motifs were ‘hand paintings,’ which were made by placing the hands on the rock face and forcefully blowing pigment around them, leaving the outline of hands. Despite their simplicity, these paintings show variation over time in the colors used. While red, black, and white were common throughout the range, in some regions yellow and even green were incorporated. Group hunting scenes featuring guanacos were also painted, while other paintings feature stationary guanacos, exaggerating parts of the anatomy that relate to fertility and to fat, highly prized aspects of this food source.