Key Points

Prehistory is the period of the distant past before the invention of paper, language, or the written word. Knowledge about this era comes from artifacts like tools, bones, and cave drawings discovered through excavation.

Prehistoric people may have created paintings to make their shelters more beautiful or to keep a visual record of their day-to-day lives. It was one of the earliest forms of human self-expression.

Commonly known as the Old Stone Age, this is the early period of human development. A significant increase in artistic activities is seen globally during the Upper Palaeolithic period.

The first discovery of rock paintings in India was by archaeologist Archibold Carlleyle in 1867-68. This was twelve years before the famous discovery of cave paintings in Altamira, Spain.

Remnants of rock paintings are found in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Bihar. Notable sites include Lakhudiyar in Uttarakhand and the extensive Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh.

Located in the Kumaon hills of Uttarakhand, the paintings at Lakhudiyar can be divided into three categories: man, animal, and geometric patterns. A famous scene depicts hand-linked dancing human figures.

Located in the Vindhya hills of Madhya Pradesh, Bhimbetka is India's largest and most spectacular rock art site, with about 500 shelters bearing paintings. It was discovered by archaeologist V.S. Wakankar in 1957-58.

The themes are highly varied, ranging from daily life to sacred images. They include hunting, dancing, music, horse and elephant riders, animal fights, honey collection, and other household scenes.

These paintings are linear representations of huge animals like bisons, elephants, and tigers, along with stick-like human figures. They are rendered in green and dark red, with some filled with geometric patterns.

This period has the largest number of paintings, which are generally smaller in size. Hunting scenes are the most dominant theme, depicting groups of people using barbed spears, pointed sticks, arrows, and bows.

In Mesolithic art, animals were typically painted in a naturalistic style, showing realistic forms and movement. In contrast, humans were depicted in a stylistic manner, often as simple stick-like figures.

The artists used various colors, with white and red being their favorites. Paints were made by grinding minerals like haematite for red and limestone for white, then mixing the powder with water and a binder like animal fat or resin.

Brushes were made from plant fiber. The colors have survived for thousands of years, likely because of a chemical reaction between the oxides in the paint and the rock surface, which helped them bond permanently.

At many sites like Bhimbetka, new paintings were often painted on top of older ones, with some places having as many as 20 layers. This may have been because the place was considered sacred or was used by different generations over time.

These paintings are invaluable for understanding the lives of early human beings. They provide insights into their lifestyle, food habits, daily activities, and the way they thought and perceived their world.