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Ambadevi rock shelters The Ambadevi rock shelter (edit) is an archaeological site exhibiting the earliest traces of human life on the central province of Indian subcontinent. It is located near Dharul village in Betul District of Indian state of Madhya Pradesh being on the border of Amravati District of Maharashtra. As per the studies of various rock paintings and Petroglyph conducted so far, the place was inhabited over 20000 years (edit) by early human settlers. The cluster of rock shelters was first discovered Dr. Vijay Ingole & colleagues on 27th January, 2007 [1] and was named as Ambadevi rock shelters because of its vicinity to ancient Ambadevi cave temple. It has also been referred to as Satpura-Tapti valley and Gavilgarh-Betul rock shelters.

Location: The rock shelters are at 60 Km north of city of Amravati of state of Maharashtra in Vidarbha region and positioned on the southern slope of Satpura-Gavilgarh hill ranges at about 1500 feet( 450 meters) above MSL (Location: 200 47’ N and 770 53’ E). It is at 6 km West of famous pilgrim place called Salbardi near Morshi town of Amravati District. So far a region of 10 km (E-W) and 6 km (N-S) has been explored. It is one of the major discoveries of the 21st Century after Bhimbetka of 20th Century in India. The area is covered by vegetation and natural sand stone rocks. The shelters bear a striking resemblance to similar rock art sites such as Bhimbetka (India), Australia, South Africa and France. Discovery: The site was not previously recorded and was first discovered by Dr. Vijay Ingole and his colleagues, primarily nature explorers, bird watchers, Mr. Padmakar Lad, Dr. Manohar Khode, Mr. shirishkumar Patil, Mr. Dnyaneshwar Damahe, and Mr. Pradeep Hirurkar on 27th of January, 2007 [1,2,3] and explored till 2012. More than 100 rock shelters were identified and 30 were found to have hundreds of Pictograph, Petroglyph, stone artifacts; and chronological period reported to be ranging from Upper Paleolithic (Stone Age 25000 to 15000 BCE), Mesolithic (10000 to 5000 BCE), Chalcolithic (Copper-Bronze Age 5000 BCE), Iron Age (1200 to 600 BCE) to Historical period. Archaeological study revealed a continuous sequence of human cultural history over that period. Further extensive exploration was undertaken by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) under Dr. Mrs. Sahu and team [4,5] from 2011. More than 225 rock shelters have been identified so far and found to have paintings, engravings, and stone tools.

Rock art and paintings: The rock shelters of Ambadevi have a large number of paintings in 100s. The oldest paintings are considered 15000 to 20000 years from Upper Paleolithic period and the latest from historical period. The rock art comprises 80% Pictograph, 60% Petroglyph and 40% Pictograph and Petroglyph [4,5]. Higher number of Pictograph, Petroglyph and cupules on walls, boulders within the shelters makes this site unique. Pictograph: Majority of the paintings are in red color and the pigment appeared to have been prepared from hematite, red blood, fat, and vegetable plant (edit). At few places green, white, black, yellow pigments were used. The paintings mainly comprise wild animals, tortoise, fish, birds, human, palm impressions, geometric figures, hunting, war scenes and many abstract geometrical figures painted on vertical shelter wall surfaces, roofs and rock hollow cavities. The oldest pictograph, known as animal zoo, has carnivorous animals like tiger, leopard, hyena, jackal, wild dogs ; omnivorous animal like bear, and herbivorous animal like blue bull, spotted deer (Axis axis), barsingha (Rucervus duvaucelii) , sambar (Rusa unicolor), Indian rhinoceros (now extinct in the region), Sivatherium (animal similar to Giraffe- now extinct) (edit), aardvark (an ant-eater-now extinct) (edit) and many unidentifiable creatures. Interestingly all animal are facing right side, further carnivorous & omnivorous animal have been depicted with thick foot pads whereas herbivorous animals have no foot pads. All paintings are red in color with bodies filled with color. The paintings are well preserved by shelter projection and protected from monsoon rains as facing the North-East direction. In other shelter, animals like wild boar, tortoise, fish, honey comb, porcupine, monkey, and unique vulture paintings are depicted by line drawing. One shelter has a weird human figure having long phallus ( male intromittent organ) with testicles (Bhairao-an incarnation of Lord Shiva) and in nearby stream a naturally created stone projection like phallus was identified and observed to have been worshipped. This appears to be one of the oldest evidence of idolatry of linga (Shiva-Linga) [1,2]. Nearby tomb like entity covered with stones was identified. Human figure riding on elephant was identified. Few figures in famous Indian Warli style, war scene of warriors with sphere, mane, riding on horse, elephant, and camel were identified. Number of geometric figures and motifs colored in red, white were identified. Interiors of many animals, tortoise are filled with geometric lines. Petroglyph: Many rock shelters have Petroglyph in the form of animals, trees, human figure, but most interestingly in one of the shelters a nicely engraved herd of four bulls (Indian Bison?) on the same face of shelter was identified. Many cave shelters depicts engraved female vulvae and a figure of lotus flower depicted by petals looking like vulvae was also identified. Round and elliptical cupules were identified. Stand alone human and elephant with rider are engraved. A tree, deer, flying squirrel (edit) were recorded. Stone tools [5] fashioned on crypto-crystalline material like chert, chalecedony and jasper were discovered around few shelters. The discovery is unique due to southernmost Paleolithic existence in Indian subcontinent and in terms of bulk of their provenance, the richness of the area and more hidden treasures of art are to be explored and put in front of the world. This civilization of 15000 yrs how suddenly vanished is an enigma however; being on the bank of Tapti river valley and certain southernmost Mohenjo-Daro – Harappa settlement on the same river may establish certain link between these civilizations which however has to be studied. Preservation: One site was found to have been vandalized. There is an urgent need to preserve the entire site, being the world heritage, by the State & Central agencies.

1. Ingole Vijay, Padmakar Lad, Manohar Khode, Dnyaneswar Damahe, Shirishkumar Patil, and Pradeep Hirurkar: 2007, Discovery of Painted Rock-Shelters from Satpura-Tapti Valley, 153-158, Purakala 17. 2. Ingole Vijay, Padmakar Lad, Manohar Khode, Dnyaneswar Damahe, Shirishkumar Patil, and Pradeep Hirurkar: 2012, Distinctive Features of the Art of Ambadevi Rock Shelters in Satpura-Tapti Valley. Presented in Rock art Society of India Conference (RASI) in Badami (Karnataka). 3. Vineet Godhal, Ashish S. Shende: 2011, Reflection of the Ecological Aspect of Animal depicted in Rock Art of Satpura-Tapti Valley and nearby Region, pp 216=223, Puratattva 41 (Indian Archeological Society, New Delhi), November 2011. 4. Bhattacharya-Sahu Nandini and Prabash Sahu 2012: Decorated Rock Shelters of Gawilgarh Hills, Madhya Pradesh, Session Paper on International Conference on Rock Art- Understanding Rock Art in Context, IGNCA, New Delhi. 5. Nandini Bhattacharya-Sahu and Prabhash Sahu: 2014, pp 63-78, Artistry in the Rock shelters of Gawilgarh Hills: Recent Discoveries, Puratattva 44 (Indian Archeological Society, New Delhi), 2014. 6. http://www.bradshawfoundation.com ; Dr. Vijay Ingole, March 2007 7. http://www.academia.edu/5628694/Petroglyphs_in_the_Recently_Discovered_Rock_Shelters_of_Gawilgarh_Hills 8. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Ancient-shelters-obscure-lives/articleshow/34126264.cms 9. http://www.sify.com/news/rock-paintings-reveal-species-that-once-roamed-india-feature-news-national-jmbk4bffdaasi.html 10. https://www.sott.net/article/198194-Maha-group-finds-cave-paintings-in-Satpura-ranges 11. http://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/003625.html 12. http://leherensuge.blogspot.in/2010/01/paleolithic-rock-art-in-central-india.html 13. https://tanystropheus.wordpress.com/2009/06/18/wednesday-wonders-sivatherium/ 14. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Discovery_of_Upper_Paleolithic_Shelter_Cave_Painting_in_Tapti_Vally_in_Central_India_by_Dr.V.T.Ingole_%26_Team_Long_view_of_Mungasa_cave.JPG 15. Ambadevi Rock Shelters

Official Name: Location: India Coordinates: 200 47’ N and 770 53’ E Criteria: Cultural