After a recently unearthed, 12,000-year-old cave in the Amazon was discovered last year, archaeologists have been slowly deciphering what they call the “Sistine Chapel” of the rainforest – one where they have discovered the first known depiction of a woman doing the “skinny arm” in painting.
The painting depicts the young woman, clearly the alpha of the group, posing with her girlfriends next to a prehistoric mastodon.
“We really can’t believe what we’re seeing,” says one archaeologist on the dig. “It was clear that by angling herself to the side and putting her hand on her hips, her arm was much skinnier than the other women’s arms beside her.”
“She must have been either really confident or really insecure,” another archaeologist added. “But from her position in the painting, we can tell she was definitely the hot one in the friend group.”
While it is unclear if the pose was requested by the early cave painter, or initiated by the subject herself, it is clear that the notion of the “skinny arm” goes much farther back than its previously known origins in the 20th century.
“This could really help us understand early humans better than we ever have before,” says another researcher on the project. “And the origins of why our arm always seems to look better from that angle for some reason.”
