S13-11

The Vindhyan Hills of Madhya Pradesh: Exploration, Documentation, and Implications for Preservation of Newly Discovered Rock Art Sites (Central India)

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, India

This presentation reports on newly discovered painted rock shelters from the Vindhyan range, north of the River Narmada, between Salkanpur and Khidiya Kurmi in Madhya Pradesh's Sehore district. While significant work has been done at sites such as the Bhimbetka, Adamgarh, and Pachmarhi complexes, very little research has been undertaken within the central Narmada Basin. As part of the author’s Ph.D. research projects, over 1479 individual paintings were tentatively identified across 75 individual rock art shelters through systematic surveys. These painted shelters are deteriorating at an alarming rate as a result of illegal activities such as deforestation, stone mining, which includes vandalism on occasion, and natural factors such as geomorphic degradation and constant exposure to the elements. As a result of the investigations and primary documentation, it was possible to propose suitable methodologies for the interpretation rock art, and possible preservation-conservation efforts that could be carried in the future.