Practical and Interpretive Implications of Experimental Hand Imprints

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This research experimentally investigates and theoretically situates the distinct impression and expression of hand imprints (prints and stencils) in rock art studies. This hominin act of imprinting hands, which cuts across spatial and temporal boundaries, showcases essential behavioural and cognitive characteristics. The various intricacies involved in the present experiment have been helpful in digging out the underlying anatomical mechanics and adaptive chemistry of hands. These imprints, apart from expressing left or right orientation of hand, also incorporate hand ability, skill and preference linked to the broader concept of handedness. This opens interpretive challenges due to the undercurrents of mixed-handedness and ambidexterity along with an embedded socio-cultural matrix, if any. The exercise of replicating ways of making plain and decorated hand prints and hand stencils sheds new light on how best to theoretically situate them. The web of embodiment and lateralized symbolism, along with haptic and embodied cognition lenses, supports a framework for this qualitative and quantitative trait. The hand motif can have multiple symbolic meanings varying from one society and culture to another in historical and contemporary times. As a result of its diverse contextual and detailed dynamic manipulation, hand imprints definitely hold much more than meets the eye.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23766