Infant Hand Prints in 'Cave of Beasts' May Belong to Lizards

In 2002, an Egyptian-Italian tourist group discovered a dazzling display of prehistoric art in the Libyan Desert. Between 6,000 and 8,000 painted and engraved images decorate the walls of Wadi Sura II, colloquially known as the “Cave of Beasts.” Anthropomorphic figures dancing and hunting, beasts roaming, and stenciled hands literally paint the story of a culture from up to 8,000 years ago. In some stencils, what look like small baby hands are placed within the outlines of larger hands.

Researchers, publishing in the Journal of Archaeological Science, are challenging the long-held assumption that the smaller hands belong to human infants.

Emmanuelle Honoré, of University of Cambridge’s McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, and colleagues performed a study comparing the morphology of the cave hands to babies born at term and pre-term.

“The results show that the rock art small hands differ significantly in size, proportions and morphology from human hands,” the researchers wrote. “Evidence suggest that the hand stencils belong to an animal, most probably a reptile.”

According to National Geographic, Honoré first became suspicious of the hand prints following her first visit to Wadi Sura II in 2006. They were smaller than human baby hands, but the fingers were longer, she said to the media outlet.

At first, she speculated that the hands were made with monkey paws. But colleagues from the Museum of Natural History in Paris suggested reptiles as the source, according to News.com.au.  

According to the researchers, the small handprints are similar in size to the forelegs of desert monitor lizards, or young crocodile feet. Desert monitor lizards still roam the region where Wadi Sura II is positioned. They “are considered protective symbols by nomadic tribes in the area,” according to National Geographic.

It’s difficult for modern humans to speculate on the potential meaning of artwork from cultures separated from us by millennia. “We have a modern conception that nature is something that humans are separate from,” she said to National Geographic. “But in this huge collection of images we can detect that humans are just part of a bigger natural world.”