A hitherto untraced rock art site was found in Kothagudem district

A hitherto untraced rock art site was found in the hinterlands of Telangana by the Telangana Jagruthi history wing and Rock Art Society of India (RASI). These significant art works, tucked deep inside the forests near Paloncha in Bhadradri Kothagudem district, were noticed by Gopi Varaprasad Rao and later examined by the Jagruthi and RASI teams.

Ramoju Haragopal, a historian in the Telangana Jagruthi history wing, says “These rock art works belong to the initial days of rock paintings when humans started to express themselves through art. This place is very near to Aksharaloddi, which is another rock art site.”This site called as ‘Onti Gundu’ by the locals and has art works with many unique features in terms of colours and patterns. Also, these paintings were created using many colours such as white, to outline to decorate the paintings and there are some overlapped paintings which reveal that abstract creativity existed from times immemorial.

According to the team, these paintings which include crabs, human bones, some reptiles, insects, match stick figures etc., might have been drawn during different time periods and by humans who lived at the place belonging to various generations.Haragopal adds that these paintings have similarities with rock art in Africa, comparing which can help in studying human evolution and migration theories.

The historian also says that stone tools belonging to the period preceding Mesolithic age were obtained here. Other findings such as an incompletely constructed temple with an unfinished six-and-half feet rock sculpture and a peculiarly created rock structure etc., too were brought to light by the finders.