India has a plethora of some of the world’s oldest cities and regions. Gurugram in Haryana is once again in the news after the discovery of ancient palaeolithic paintings adorning the walls of a cave in the Mangar village in the Aravallis. The ancient paintings are suspected to date back over 10,000 years during the stone age. Read on to know more about these amazing findings.
Ancient Cave Paintings & Engravings Discovered In Gurugram
According to a report by Weather.com, wildlife researcher and ecologist, Sunil Harsana set out to explore the Mangar village in the Aravallis. After what followed an arduous trek, he came across a cave filled with palaeolithic paintings on the walls. He spotted a bunch of human hands and footprints, and animal engravings on the hillock, nestled just 6 km away from Sohna’s Badshahpur Tethar village in Gurugram.
The petroglyphs were engraved on quartzite rocks. This is the same area where cave paintings were discovered in 2021. This cave graffiti is known to date back to the same age, i.e, the stone age. This palaeolithic era dates back from 25 lakh years to 10,000 BP (before present). Banani Bhattacharyy, the deputy director of Haryana’s directorate of archaeology revealed to TOI that these cave cravings are over 10,000 BP old. But a survey needs to be done to confirm this.
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Human & Animal Footprints & Basic Symbols
While some of the stone carvings are basic symbols, most of them are human and animal footprints. Perhaps, kept for a special reason. Archaeologists also discovered tools and equipment used to engrave the petroglyphs. But these tools and equipment have eroded due to weather conditions. Yet, these are excellent examples of Indian pre-history.
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Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), advisor, Divay Gupta reveals to Weather.com that these cave engravings could be used to keep records or even as an ancient game. This is the second time in the past few years that cave paintings have been discovered in the year. Unfortunately, ancient Aravalli’s ranges have fallen prey to mining activities, so history seems to have been lost. But archaeologists are at it to bring to light India’s rich pre-history.
So, history buffs, does this new discovery excite you?
Cover Image Courtesy: Canva ( picture used for representation)