Rock painting
Also called: Rock art, Rock art of India · Topic: Prehistory: Human Origins and Stone Age Cultures · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 4 "Timeline and Sources of History"
Meaning
Rock paintings are pictures that early humans painted on the walls and ceilings of caves and rock shelters. They show animals, people, hunting scenes, dances and signs. The colours came from natural pigments such as red and white minerals. Rock art is one of the clearest signs of symbolic behaviour, meaning the use of pictures and signs to share ideas. This kind of behaviour is linked with Homo sapiens. Rock paintings survive in hundreds of caves around the world.
Example
Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with hundreds of painted rock shelters. People used these shelters in the Mesolithic period, after c. 12,000 years ago, and even earlier. Art activity flourished in that period.
Don't confuse with
- Petroglyphs are carved or scratched into rock, not painted on it. The Konkan petroglyphs on laterite plateaus are an example.
Related concepts
- Palaeolithic age
- Acheulian tradition
- Handaxe
- Attirampakkam
- Isampur
- Hunsgi valley
- Pallavaram
- Didwana
- Soanian culture
- Hathnora