Dec 05, 2018 07:00:00

Why are there so many 'handprints with missing fingers' on ancient murals?

Ancient cave paintings often show numerous handprints, but these handprints are often reported to be missing fingers. Researchers have suggested that the reason for this may be that the fingers were cut off as part of religious sacrifices.

A Cross-cultural Perspective on Upper Palaeolithic Hand Images with Missing Phalanges | SpringerLink

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs41982-018-0016-8

Strange Cave Art Could Mean These Palaeolithic People Amputated Their Own Fingers
https://www.sciencealert.com/strange-cave-art-could-mean-palaeolithic-artists-were-ritually-ampputating-their-own-fingers

Paleolithic cave paintings often show 'handprints' of human hands and fingers, but in some cave paintings in France and Spain, some of these fingers are missing. Until now, many archaeologists have thought that the reason for the existence of handprints without fingers is 'just a coincidence.' On the other hand, there is a theory that 'some fingers were not drawn by bending them,' and there is also a theory that 'people in some areas had the practice of cutting off fingers.'

And in a new study, Simon Fraser University archaeologist Mark Collard supports this theory of finger amputation: 'Finger amputation is common in many regions, even in relatively recent history,' Collard said. 'The hypothesis that some Upper Paleolithic people amputated their fingers as a religious sacrifice fits with the existing data.'

One of the reasons the research team came to this conclusion is that in some areas, many 'finger-missing handprints' have been found. In France's Grotte Prestrick de Gargas, 231 handprints believed to have been made by 40 to 50 people have been found, of which 114 are missing one or two fingers. In France's Cosquer Cave, 28 of the 49 handprints were missing fingers, and in Spain's Maltravieso Cave, 61 of the 71 handprints were missing fingers.

In 1976, archaeologist C. Barrière

reported finding human limbs in the mud, some of which were missing fingers. The imprints found by Barrière and the fingerless handprints are believed to be from the same period.

In addition, a survey of the global ethnographic database ' Human Relation Area Files ' revealed that 121 communities in Africa, Eurasia, Oceania, and the Americas still practice the ritual practice of finger amputation today. Of course, in many areas this practice has fallen out of use, but it is still practiced today.

However, the reasons for amputating fingers vary from culture to culture, and can be to express grief over the loss of a loved one, or as a form of professional identification, marriage status, or punishment. Researchers believe that the reason why people in the Upper Paleolithic period amputated their fingers was as a 'religious sacrifice,' and that amputating a finger was believed to give them divinity or supernatural powers.

by Noelle Otto

On the other hand, archaeologist Ian Gilligan, who was not involved in this study, pointed out that the pattern of handprints with missing fingers found during the Ice Age does not match the ethnographic cases presented in the study. He argues that the 'missing fingers' seen during the Ice Age were caused by frostbite. In addition, an archaeologist from Durham University argues that since losing a finger was equivalent to suicide at that time, the act of cutting off a finger in interpersonal relationships was not worth it, and that 'handprints were taken with the fingers bent.'

The research team did not rule out these possibilities, stating that their paper 'investigates possibilities, not draws conclusions. The amputation hypothesis is not perfect, but it shows that it is a valid hypothesis that warrants further investigation.'