First artists — mostly women?

These hand stencils found in the El Castillo cave in Cantabria, Spain, were probably made by a man (left) and a woman (right), respectively. Photographs by Roberto Ontanon Peredo, courtesy Dean Snow

These hand stencils found in the El Castillo cave in Cantabria, Spain, were probably made by a man (left) and a woman (right), respectively.
Photographs by Roberto Ontanon Peredo, courtesy Dean Snow

An article in National Geographic presents research by an archeologist at Penn State that proposes that most of the pre-historic art found in caves was done by women.  This is based on analysis of the hand stencil “signatures.”