Finger flutings are channels drawn in soft sediments covering walls, floors and ceilings of some limestone caves in Europe and Australia and in some cases date as far back as 50,000 years ago. Initial research focused on why they were made, but more recently, as part of a growing interest in the individual in the past, researchers began asking questions about who made them. This shift in direction has led to claims that by measuring the width of flutings made with the three middle fingers of either hand, archaeologists can infer the ordinal age, sex and individuality of the ‘fluter’. These claims rest on a single dataset created in 2006. In this paper, we undertake the first critical analysis of that dataset and its concomitant methodologies. We argue that sample size, uneven distribution of sex and age within the sample, non-standardised medium, human variability, the lack of comparability between an experimental context and real cave environments and assumptions about demographic modelling effectively negate all previous claims. To sum, we find no substantial evidence for the claims that an age, sex and individual tracing can be revealed by measuring finger flutings as described by Sharpe and Van Gelder (Antiquity 80: 937-947, 2006a; Cambridge Archaeological Journal 16: 281–95, 2006b; Rock Art Research 23: 179–98, 2006c). As a case study, we discuss Koonalda Cave in southern Australia. Koonalda has the largest and most intact display of finger flutings in the world and is also part of a cultural landscape maintained and curated by Mirning people.

指状凹槽是在欧洲和澳大利亚一些石灰岩洞穴的墙壁、地板和天花板上覆盖的软沉积物中绘制的通道，在某些情况下可以追溯到 50,000 年前。最初的研究集中在它们为何被制造出来，但最近，随着人们对过去的个体越来越感兴趣，研究人员开始询问是谁制造了它们。这种方向的转变导致人们声称，通过测量用两只手的三个中指制作的凹槽的宽度，考古学家可以推断出“凹槽”的顺序年龄、性别和个性。这些主张基于 2006 年创建的单个数据集。在本文中，我们对该数据集及其相关方法进行了首次批判性分析。我们认为，样本量、样本中性别和年龄分布不均匀、非标准化媒介、人类变异性、实验背景与真实洞穴环境之间缺乏可比性以及关于人口模型的假设有效地否定了之前的所有主张。总而言之，我们没有找到任何实质性证据来证明夏普和范格尔德（Antiquity 80: 937-947, 2006a；Cambridge Archaeological Journal 16: 281–）所描述的通过测量手指凹槽可以揭示年龄、性别和个人追踪的说法。 95，2006b；岩石艺术研究 23：179-98，2006c）。作为案例研究，我们讨论澳大利亚南部的库纳尔达洞穴。库纳尔达 (Koonalda) 拥有世界上规模最大、保存最完整的手指瓦楞展示场，也是米宁 (Mirning) 人维护和策划的文化景观的一部分。