Overview:-
- Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh state of India housed the collection of one of the oldest cave paintings in the world. Bhimbetka contain 700 rock shelters discovered by Indian archaeological scientist V.S Wakandar in 1957. The caves deliver evidence of earliest human activities in Indian sub continent. They also display outstanding rock paintings from the Mesolithic period (10000-5000 B.C). UNESCO also declared the site as a world heritage site in 2003.
- Some of rock arts in the site considered to be 30000 years old. There are also paintings from the medieval period (Between 5th and 15th century). The paintings survived weathering and other factors intact because most of them were made on the inner walls of the caves. Some of paintings can be seen even on the roofs of the caves.
- Majority of drawings at Bhimbetka rock shelters were made present in red and white colors. Wooden charcoal. manganese, red stones were the main materials used for preparation of colors. The paintings depict social life, hunting, animal fights, burials and religious rites of different cultures. Some rocks are specially dedicated for wild animals with drawings of tigers, wild boar, elephants, rhinos, antelopes and monkeys.
