Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka

 

The Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka are in the foothills of the Vindhyan Mountains on the southern edge of the central Indian plateau. Within massive sandstone outcrops, above comparatively dense forest, are five clusters of natural rock shelters, displaying paintings that appear to date from the Mesolithic Period right through to the historical period.

 

Bhimbetka has provided very important information about the Indian Acheulian because until its excavation, nearly all such information had come from alluvial sites and surface collections.

It is therefore clear that Bhimbetka has been an important key site in the context of Indian Palaeolithic research, and that it is one of the great archaeological sites of the world.

 

The cultural traditions of the inhabitants of the twenty-one villages adjacent to the site bear a strong resemblance to those represented in the rock paintings.

 

Long before the appearance of this form of expression, figurative and nonfigurative images were used in pictorial systems of communication. This mode of transmitting information through signs has, since time immemorial, remained a privileged mode of discourse. (Jean,  1998).

 

 Bhimbetka reflects a long interaction between people and the landscape, as demonstrated in the quantity and quality of its rock art. Also it is closely associated with a hunting and gathering economy as demonstrated in the rock art and in the relicts of this tradition in the local adivasi villages on the periphery of this site. (Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka, n.d)

 

In the depiction of dancing people, one figure on the far right is depicted in a bigger size than others. Probably the figure is the one who conducts the ritual or a leader. The cow in the middle with x-ray image meaning which also appears in Aboriginal mural, Inuit people, and American Indian.

 

The x-ray painting is referred to the knowledge of the animal's anatomy. Inuit Eskimo(raw meat eaters-those who speak a foreign language) borrowed from an Algonquian langiage)The traditional Inuit practised shamanic animism. (Magocsi, 2002)