A series of rock carvings known as petroglyphs, estimated to be 12,000 years old, offer priceless insight into the history of the area.
In the state of Maharashtra, in western India, lies a unique window into the nation’s ancient past and rich cultural heritage. Sitting atop small hills in the Konkan region, they've become known as the Konkan petroglyphs. They went unnoticed by many for thousands of years, hidden beneath layers of soil and mud. The initial discovery took place 2012. However, those that were uncovered by the elements were considered sacred or seen as part of the cultural legacy left by the ancestors of people who lived in the vicinity.
Over 1,500 petroglyphs, spread across more than 70 locations, have been documented so far - all of them dating back to the Mesolithic era. The designs seem to have been created by a hunter-gatherer community that had yet to discover agriculture, as this activity wasn't depicted. The carvings feature both land and sea animals (some long extinct), birds, human figures, and geometrical designs.
Since their discovery, scientists and anthropology enthusiasts have hoped to shed some light on unknown civilizations that once thrived in the Konkan region. The peoples that created them are currently unknown, but these remarkable rock carvings are now under study to uncover the mysteries of the civilisations that once thrived there, reports Organiser.
Now, the Konkan petroglyphs are on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. “The high level of artistic skills and evolution of techniques of rock etching and scooping, are significant markers of their intellectual endowment of the cultural group. The diversity of symbolism, forms, composition, proportion, techniques evident in each site are distinct and collectively represent an insight into the world view of earliest transitionary phases of the culture in Konkan,” reads UNESCO's website.