    |   Oct. 11, 2013 at 7:09 PM UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Oct. 11
(UPI) -- A study of hand prints on cave walls suggests much of
Paleolithic cave art was created by women, a Penn State
archaeologist says.  Taking as his starting point previous
research that found average finger lengths in people vary by
gender, Dean Snow has been studying ancient hand prints in caves
for nearly a decade, National Geographic reported.  Looking at
pictures of cave art at one point, Snow noticed the fingers on
the hands stenciled next to depictions of animals and other
objects appeared to conform to research descriptions of female
hands.  Hand stencils, found in several cave art sites, where
created by the artist or artists placed their hands against a
cave wall and blowing paint at them (through a straw or directly
from their mouth) to create an outline.  Snow said his studies
suggest approximately 75 percent of such hand art samples was
likely the work of women as opposed to the common belief that
cave art was the purview of men.