SNIPPETS OF INFORMATION
PAINTINGS - Prehistoric rock art
* 24 Sep 2021
Two hero stones were found at the foothills of Pottamalai in
Nalluthevanpatti village of Usilmaptti block by K.T. Gandhirajan, an art
historian who undertakes research and documentation of historical
monuments across the State. One of the hero stones found at the site
called ‘pulikuthi kal’ was erected in the memory of a person who died
while fighting a tiger. Mr. Gandhirajan said that the stone measured 8.8
feet in height and 4.5 feet in width. The stone had two portions — the
lower portion depicted a man fighting a tiger and the upper one depicted
a man riding a horse and a person standing next to him holding an
umbrella. This region's landscape was Mullai (forest).
Mr.Gandhirajan said that stones belonging to the microlithic period,
dating back to 3,000 to 4,000 years, were found at the site. Iron-age
remains, including iron slags, were also found.
Source: Two hero stones found at foothills of Pottamalai by P A Narayani, thehindu.com, 3 Aug 2020
* 23 Sep 2021
Bhimbetka, near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, is world renowned for its
extensive rock art shelters. It happens to be just one of several such
spectacular sites across central India - in MP, Rajasthan and
Chhattisgarh. Some of these paintings are as old as ten thousand years.
They depict a range of scenes - hunting, fighting, dancing, etc - as
well as several types of animals. Uniquely, many forms of tribal art in
the area still bear striking similarities to this ancient art in their
imagery and function.
Source: Tamil Heritage Trust
They were discovered and revealed to the world by V.S. Wakankar from
1957 onwards. Bhimbetka, set in the Vindhyan range of central India, is
about ten kilometres by two. On seven hills more than 500 painted
sandstone shelters are known in an environment of forests, nowadays
threatened by population increase and pressure. Some of the painted
sites are very minor, with a few images only whereas there will be
hundreds in others. They were put on the World Heritage List of UNESCO
in 2003. Fifteen or so of the most spectacular ones, in an environment
of convoluted cliffs on the top of a hill with a large vista, are open
to the public. They have been skilfully fitted up with unobtrusive but
efficient passageways and protections, so that visitors can view the
paintings at leisure but are kept sufficiently away not to cause any
damage.
Excavations carried out at Bhimbetka have revealed occupational deposits
ranging from the Acheulian to Historical times. As to the art, the
three main periods recognized by most Indian researchers (Mesolithic
roughly 12,000 to 5,000 BP, Chalcolithic (rougly 5,000 to 2,500 BP) and
Historical, from 2,500 BP onwards) are present on the shelter walls.
Source: The Rock Art Site of Bhimbetka, Dr. Jean Clottes, bradshawfoundation.com
* 19 Sep 2021
Prehistoric Rock art Sites
The prehistoric rock art of Hazaribagh is painted in some
fourteen sandstone rock shelters in the hills of Sati, Mahadeva (Mahudi)
and Satpahar Ranges of the Upper Damodar Valley. Authorities have dated
the rockart to the Meso-Chalcolithic period (10,000 B.C). There is
evidence of an older layer of rock art touching the Palaeolithic.
Several microliths and polished stone axe-heads were found in the
painted shelters with evidence of Palaeolithic habitation sites and
heavy hand axes and stone tools in the hilly region above and alongside
the rock art, with Black and Red Ware pottery and remains of an iron
industry below. The rock art of the Mesolithic period evidences drawings
of wild and domestic animals and the Chalcolithic evidences mandala
designs and geometric forms in keeping with the chronology of Wakankar
and Brooks (1976) in Central India. The oldest level of rockart have
found to be in Saraiya in the Satpahar Range discovered in 1994 by Erwin
Neumayer and Justin Imam. This rockart has a shamanstic series of
drawings painted in red haematite which is believed to be of the Palaeolithic
period, and the most priceless rockart of Hazaribagh.
Sites: Isco, Thethangi, Saraiya, Satpahar I, II, III, Khandar, Raham, Sidpa, Gonda, and Nautangwa.
Source: Bulu Imam (INTACH), virasathazaribagh.blogspot.com
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