Assessment Questions 6.5

El Morro in New Mexico is a national monument known for its substantial promontory along an old trade and migration route. The Zuni referred to it as "A'ts'ina," meaning "The Place of Writing on the Rock." People passing by, including Native Americans, Spanish explorers, and English settlers, would fill their canteens at the permanent water source and leave their marks on the adjacent cliff face. Approximately two thousand individuals, ranging from Spanish priests to nineteenth-century American surveyors and artists, etched their names onto the cliff face, serving as a way to say, "I was here."

Ancient people, lacking a writing system, memorialized their presence by leaving handprints in paint on cave walls. The passage mentions that residents of Sulawesi created handprints in paint on cave walls 40,000 years ago. This involved placing a hand on the cave wall and spraying pigment, possibly through a reed, over the hand, leaving a negative image. The practice of using handprints in art is widespread, with examples found in European Upper Paleolithic art and ancient Native American art in the American Southwest.

The passage emphasizes the widespread practice of leaving handprints in ancient art across diverse cultures and regions. Despite the lack of historical connection, human beings worldwide, separated by vast oceans and thousands of years, felt compelled to leave their personal mark by applying paint to their hands and pressing them on cave walls, rockshelters, and cliff faces. This universal act served as an eternal signature, conveying the timeless message: "I was here" to future generations.