A train stops in the midst of nowhere owing to engine trouble in the heart of India. A man peeps out of the window and his attention is riveted by the unusual rock formations that he can see in the distance. His natural instincts spur him to disembark from the train and with the help of a local, walk towards the rocks to investigate further.
What he found there altered the world’s understanding of the cognitive evolution of man, and pushed back its dating by thousands of years. The place where he found the strange-looking rocks is now known as Bhimbetka Rock Shelters and the site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the man who made the epoch-making discovery was none other than V S Wakankar, a noted archaeologist of India. The discovery of the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters occurred in 1957.
“In Europe, the cognitive development of man started about 40,000 years ago while here in Bhimbetka it started 100,000 years ago, we are walking now not only in the footsteps of Wakankar but also the ancient man who shaped human history,” said Padmashri K K Muhammed, renowned archaeologist, who was with us as we walked towards the massive rock formations that form the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters.
Dickinsonia, the latest discovery
More than 60 years after the discovery of the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters, geologists have stumbled upon another epoch-making discovery. They have discovered what is termed as Dickinsonia, one of the very rare fossils in the world. The fossil of an animal that lived during the Ediacaran period dating back a staggering 570 million years was found on the roof of what is known as the Auditorium Cave in Bhimbetka.
Huge quartzite towers beckon as you walk towards the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters. Over 750 rock shelters are spread across a vast area comprising five hills out of which 400 are scattered around what is called the core area. There are over 200 rock shelters in the Bhimbetka group out of which around 133 have paintings in them that tell the saga of mankind from the moment of his cognisance.
The paintings that one finds in Bhimbetka have been created across different periods of time and there is superimposition as well. Many of the paintings date back to around 5,000 years ago while the presence of petroglyphs has been dated to 100,000 years ago establishing Bhimbetka as one of the earliest cradles of human civilisation and the cognitive development of man. And that is the importance of the site, as it is a bridge that connects the modern man to his ancestors over the wide chasm of time measuring over 100,000 years.
Test of time
The Bhimbetka Rock Shelters were sites that fostered human activity from the Paleolithic times to Medieval times. The paintings inside the rock shelters range from simple linear drawings of human figures and animals to the depiction of scenes from day-to-day activities in which early man indulged in like hunting, dancing, scenes of battles, etc. The paintings on the rock walls that have stood the test of time are done in mineral colours of red, white, green, and ochre. As you look at these early artistic expressions of man, you wonder about his day-to-day life and the kind of community he lived in.
The caves of Bhimbetka hold intriguing tales of the early evolution of man. They depict the earliest communication of man, the fascinating account of his day-to-day life, of the animals that he feared and the animals that he domesticated, of battles, hunts, and much more. In many ways, the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters are documents in rock that showcase the life and times of early man.