The rock art of central India and southern India is rich and recent discoveries of petroglyphs from Konkan indicate that there may have had a link between these two regions. When we talk about rock art in India, mostly we think of cave temples, rock paintings of Bhimbetka, and etchings found on excavated items. It’s time we add more things to the list of rock art in India. For instance, the geoglyphs or the petroglyphs of Konkan. The initial discovery of these sites was done in 2012, though the locals had known about some of these petroglyphs as something cultural left by their ancestors. Now these Konkan petroglyphs find themselves in the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Kasheli, Rundhye Tali, Devache Gothane, Barsu, Devi Hasol, Jambharun, Kudopi and Ukshi in Maharashtra, and Pansaymol in Goa, these are the places in the Konkan region where these aforementioned petroglyphs were found. More than 1500 petroglyphs are spread across more than 70 locations, all dating back to the Mesolithic era. Most of these carvings are of land and marine animals, and get this, some of these rock art are of animals that are long extinct.
