Jean-Michel CHAZINE
(Maison Asie-Pacifique/CNRS-Marseille, France)
Questions concerning gender of fingers or hands marks and stencils began to be studied with promising results by some scholars like Sharpe and Van Guelder in Rouffignac Cave or Snow some years ago. In some recent publications, Manning and his colleagues used the length ratio between two fingers of the hand (the forefinger and the ring finger) as possibly corresponding to anybody’s sexual identity (2D/4D ratio). Mannings statistical studies show that although varying differently from one culture to another, some difference between men and women ratio would persist. Presuming its validity, that ratio may be applied to prehistoric archaeology which present numerous hands stencils all over the world. Therefore, a specific program called ©kalimain 1,1 has been elaborated which is able from digitalized pictures to proceed automatically to all metric and statistical measures, and then precise the gender of their authors. First tested upon Borneo’s pictures, then upon French and foreign samplings, it gave impressive results and nurture the reflexion concerning the presence or participation of women in caves rock Art.