Ancient rock art dating back to 1500 B.C.found in Tamill Nadu

 
A natural cavern with a profusion of ancient rock art, contemporary tribal paintings and even modern day graffiti has been discovered near Mavadaippu tribal village, about 7km from the Kadampari hydel power station in Tamil Nadu's Coimabatore district. K.T.Gandhirajan,art historian and explorer,P.Manivannan,K.Natarajan and a group of students from the Government College of Fine Arts ,Chennai made the discovery on May 17. They also found about a kilometer away from the site a number of dolmens, called "muni aria" in Tamil in four different locations in the backdrop of the Anamalai hills. The dolmens are in square, rectangular and even round shapes. Some have compartments inside.
According to Mr.Gandhirajan, who is a post-graduate in Art History, "a spectacular feature of the site is that the rock surface  is an admixture of ancient rock art and contemporary tribal paintings, showing continuity of traditions as it were". The paintings have been done on a rock surface that is 40 feet long and 20 feet tall. He and other experts put the date of the ancient rock paintings around 1500B.C. these paintings include a tiger with its mouth wide open, a deer with straight horns, a procupine, a wild boar, a peacoak and elephants.

(The Hindu, 27th    May 2007)