For You Lot Data - Prehistoric Fine Art Hints At Lost Indian Civilisation

The regain of stone carvings believed to last tens of thousands of years quondam inwards India's western the world of Maharashtra has greatly excited archaeologists who believe they concord clues to a previously unknown civilisation, BBC Marathi's Mayuresh Konnur reports.

Credit: BBC MARATHI

The stone carvings - known equally petroglyphs - bring been discovered inwards their thousands atop hillocks inwards the Konkan share of western Maharashtra.

Mostly discovered inwards the Ratnagiri as well as Rajapur areas, a bulk of the images etched on the rocky, apartment hilltops remained unnoticed for thousands of years.

Credit: BBC MARATHI

Most of them were hidden beneath layers of reason as well as mud. But a few were inwards the opened upward - these were considered holy as well as worshipped past times locals inwards some areas.

The sheer diversity of the stone carvings bring stunned experts - animals, birds, human figures as well as geometrical designs are all depicted.

Credit: BBC MARATHI

The agency the petroglyphs bring been drawn, as well as their similarity to those constitute inwards other parts of the world, bring led experts to believe that they were created inwards prehistoric times as well as are perchance with the oldest e'er discovered.

"Our commencement deduction from examining these petroglyphs is that they were created some 10,000BC," the manager of the Maharashtra the world archeology department, Tejas Garge, told the BBC.

Credit: BBC MARATHI

The credit for their regain goes to a grouping of explorers led past times Sudhir Risbood as well as Manoj Marathe, who began searching for the images inwards earnest afterwards observing a few inwards the area. Many were constitute inwards hamlet temples as well as played a piece of occupation inwards local folklore.

"We walked thousands of kilometres. People started sending photographs to us as well as nosotros fifty-fifty enlisted schools inwards our efforts to regain them. We made students enquire their grandparents as well as other hamlet elders if they knew nearly whatsoever other engravings. This provided us with a lot of valuable information," Mr Risbood told the BBC.

Credit: BBC MARATHI

Together they constitute petroglyphs inwards as well as some 52 villages inwards the area. But solely some v villages were aware that the images fifty-fifty existed.

Apart from actively searching for them, Mr Risbood as well as Mr Marathe bring likewise played an of import piece of occupation inwards documenting the petroglyphs as well as lobbying authorities to larn involved inwards studying as well as preserving them.

Credit: BBC MARATHI

Mr Garge says the images look to bring been created past times a hunter-gatherer community which was non familiar with agriculture.

"We bring non constitute whatsoever pictures of farming activities. But the images pull hunted animals as well as there's detailing of brute forms. So this human being knew nearly animals as well as body of body of water creatures. That indicates he was theme on hunting for food."

Dr Shrikant Pradhan, a researcher as well as fine art historian at Pune's Deccan College who has studied the petroglyphs closely, said that the fine art was clearly inspired past times things observed past times people at the time.

"Most of the petroglyphs exhibit familiar animals. There are images of sharks as well as whales equally good equally amphibians similar turtles," Mr Garge adds.

But this begs the enquiry of why some of the petroglyphs pull animals similar hippos as well as rhinoceroses which aren't constitute inwards this piece of occupation of India. Did the people who created them migrate to Republic of Republic of India from Africa? Or were these animals 1 time constitute inwards India?

The the world authorities has laid upward aside a fund of 240 1 thou one thousand rupees ($3.2m; £2.5m) to farther study 400 of the identified petroglyphs.

It is hoped that some of these questions volition eventually last answered.

Source: BBC News Website [October 02, 2018]


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