distant tribal groups. Beginning around 7,500 BC, the site, along with the Cerro Casa de Piedra-7 site near Lake Burmeister, became important landmarks in a nomadic circuit between Pinturas Canyon and its surrounding areas, the western part of the Central High Plateau, and the steppes and forests of the ecotone bordering the steppes and forests of the mountainous-lake environment of the Andes. These regions existed at various elevations. The migratory patterns of this circuit were seasonal, following the abundance of vegetables in each region and the births of guanacos, which varied based on the altitude. The furs of newborn guanacos were highly sought after by the native peoples, increasing the importance of guanaco birth patterns to the timing of the seasonal migrations. The prime time for newborn guanacos near Cueva de las Manos was around November. The groups who inhabited the area included the Toldense people, who lived in the caves until the third or second millennium BC. When occupying the area, temporary camp sites would be made around the cave, where extended families or even large bands of people would gather. The groups that gathered at these camp sites would have enabled the inhabitants to organize group hunting of guanacos. The earliest rock art at the site was created around 7,300 BC. Cueva de las Manos is the only site in the region with rock art of this age, categorized as the A1 and A2 styles of the cave, but after 6,800 BC similar art, particularly hunting scenes of styles A3, A4, and A5, was created at other sites in the region. The site was last inhabited around 700 AD, with the final cave dwellers possibly being ancestors of the Tehuelche tribes. Modern study and protection Father Alberto Maria de Agostini, an Italian missionary and explorer, first wrote about the site in 1941. It was then investigated by an expedition of the La Plata Museum in 1949. Argentine surveyor and archaeologist Carlos Gradin and his team began the most substantial research on the site in 1964, initiating a 30-year-long study of the caves and their art. Gradin's work has helped to identify the different stylistic sequences of the cave. Cueva de las Manos is a National Historic Monument in Argentina, and has been since 1993. In 1995, the site became a major subject in a study of Argentina's rock art initiated by the National Institute of Anthropology and Latin