Bowmen and Deer Cliff Painting Los Caballos, Spain, 10,000-9000 bce MESOLITHIC PERIOD Bowmen and Deer Cliff Painting Los Caballos, Spain Probably Mesolithic, 10,000-9000 BC Bowmen and Deer Cliff Painting Los Caballos, Spain, 10,000-9000 bce

MESOLITHIC PERIOD began 12,000 bp Mesolithic tool kits were based on chipped stone Hunter-gatherers began to store food in containers Relied less on large mammals for food -- more on fish and small game Domestication of animals began with domestication of dogs Rock art paintings and carvings increasingly depict human communal activities as well as animals

Tassili N’Ajjer Algeria 8000 years ago, the Sahara Desert used to be a fertile land with rivers full of fish and rich grassy hills full of game . Cultures followed one another leaving their own records Era of Hunters : 6000 to 4000 B.C. Era of Stockbreeders: 4000 to 1500 B.C. Era of Horse : 1500 B.C. to 1st century A.D. Era of Camel : from 1st century on They left painted or engraved testimonies making one of the most complete catalogs ever found about prehistoric life . The" Tassili N'Ajjer",very rich in rupestral art, is situated in the South. Early morning departure:milky sky , black rocks ,pink sand ................. Today , Sahara is nothing but gullied hills , sculpted by winds . These grind- stones , forgotten on a burnt soil , are nothing but the phantoms of an ancient oasis .Eroded by waters and winds , Tassili plateau , with its numerous gullies and ravines offered an ideal working site to the artists of these ancient times . They have represented scenes of daily life or related to their beliefs , as well as many animals which cannot be found there anymore . In Touareg language" Tassili N'Ajjer " means " Plateau of many rivers"

Tassili People

Tassili Animals

Tassili Hunters

Tassili Dancers and Musicians

Gobustan Azerbijan Gobustan (the territory of Gobu): a plain situated between the south-eastern slope -of the Greater Caucasian Range and the Caspian Sea. Over 6000 rock carvings, settlements, and tombstones, the oldest from 12,000 bce are in the mountains of Gobustan . Situated between the south-eastern slope -of the Greater Caucasian Range and the Caspian Sea, lies the plain broken with ravines, called Gobustan (the territory of Gobu). In the mountains of Gobustan, i.e. in Beyukdash, Kichikdash, Djinghirdag, Shangardag and Shakhday, the witnesses to the past of Azerbaijan people of the Stone Age and subsequent periods are concentrated: these are rock carvings, settlements, tombstones etc. Azerbaidzhan, south-eastern foothills of the Great Caucasian Range. The tablelands of Beyuk-dash, Kichik-dash, Djinghir-dash and Yazyly- Tepe consisted of the limestone and other sedimentary rocks. About 6000 of depictions, situated on more than 700 planes of rocks and grottoes. Among them large (more than 1 m) depictions of male and female figures, made with deep, carved lines. Had been studied by I.M. Jafarzade, his studies were continued by J.N. Rustamov and F.M.Muradova after 1965. 10 settlements, burial-mounds of different epochs (from the Mesolithic up to the Middle Ages) were discovered and are being studied. The dating is proved by the fact that some depictions are overlapped with cultural deposits, Late-Mesolithic ones among them The rocks of Gobustan are rich in the monuments of nature.Throughout the millenia the "jewellers of nature", i.e. the wind, sun and rain were vying one another in workmanship.Casting a glance over the wonderful patterns, left by the nature on the rocks, "the live stones" of Gobustan, one cannot help exclaiming "Long live art ! Long live life !"

Gobustan People females hunter The carvings depicting male and female figures are characteristic of Gobustan. Men in the drawings are shown wearing the hunter's outfit with a bow and arrows.The men are tall with slim bodies girdled with belts, with developed musicles. Women in the drawings emphasize busts and thighs. A woman is depicted as the symbol of good and prosperity, as the continuer of human race. The themes and the appearance of these art specimens are closely associated with the people's life. Along with versatile subject-matter, the ancient rock carvings abound in compositional scenes depicting a host of life spheres of human activities. hunter

Gobustanis dancing the Yally In them, one can see Azerbaijan people's round dance "Yally", the collective labour process, hunting scenes with various kinds of weapons, sailing on the "Tigris" type boats, harvest-time, animal fights, the attacks of the beasts of prey upon the herbivorous animals, etc.It can be assumed, that the collective dances, of many peoples of the world which are still being performed now have been originated from the round dance "Yally" of the prehistoric hunters. It call also be true, that "Yally" was performed to the accompaniment of the oldest musical instrument "Gaval dashem".This stone is the evidence of the high level of musical culture of our peoples.

Gobustan boats attracted the attention of Thor Heyerdahl

Bhimabetaka India Bhimabetaka, is located 45 km to the south-east of Bhopal near a hill village called 'Bhiyanpur'. “Bhima's sitting place” is the literal meaning of Bhimabetaka Atop the hill a large number of rock-shelters contain more than 130 paintings. . It is believed that these paintings are twenty thousand to five hundred thousand years old. There are residues of Brahmi scripts which are considered extremely ancient. In the later years, king Bhojraj liked this location and started building a fitting temple of Shiva and the lake. For some reason, the construction never finished. Today the lake provides for excellent agriculture in the neighborhood and the Bhojpur temple attracts devotees even from far distances. The Bhimabetaka hillocks are made of sandstone. They are elevated from the valley and are ideal for human habitat. There are some caves, but most are natural havens. The natives must have used bamboo and mud for construction of walls and steps and the constructions must have died along with them. It is easy to tell that these habitats were part of community as in Ajanta and Ellora. There are stages and animal sheds, small and big. Bhimabetaka remains a great witness to the evolution of mankind's civilization, through its numerous rock weapons, tools, ceramics, and bones. More than anything else, the rock paintings are the greatest wealth the natives of Bhimabetaka left behind. Bhimbetka, in Raisen district , Madhya Pradesh, is located 45 km to the south-east of Bhopal near a hill village called 'Bhiyanpur'. Legendary character of Mahabharata Bhima's sitting place is the literral meaning of Bhimbetaka which probably it got due to its mysterious huge rock caves.This place it seems,attracted human attention from very begenning, that is why it could become a natural choice for cultic performences.Atop the hill a large number of rock- shelters have been discovered of which about more than 130 contains paintings. The caves are well located, with a great view of fertile Vidisha below, in the midst of a thickish teak and tendu-trees (used for making bidis forests. One is almost envious of the life these artistic cavemen must have led. Like the rooms of a fancy house each cave is separated from the next by a few metres. Most of the cave paintings are quite faint. One can hardly suppose the reds and whites to be fresh 10,000 years later. However, that does not detract from the fact that the subject of each etching is extremely clear

Bhimabetaka deer The animals and birds constitute the largest subject of these paintings. Some animals are silhouettes, yet very attractive. He has used triangles, rectangles, circles, and hexagons freely. Sometimes he has shown the internals of animals as if they were transparent. Some experts have criticized these paintings as proof of the artist's ignorance, but I feel that this proof that the native men studied their surroundings and nature. I also think embedding an elephant in a deer's stomach as imagination and humor. You can see a deer running away from a lion, animals crying for help to the hunters, men running away from wild boars etc On the Zoo Rock there is a concentration of etchings of animals. They are easily identifiable -- though not easily photograph-able -- wild boars, cattle, horses, bison, leopards, tigers, bears, elephants, rhinoceros, deer, foxes, jackals and monkey. Grazing. Standing, Running. The hair on their backs is even discernible. The woods around here are still home to bears, leopards and boar, Krishna confirms. The animal drawings are all in white, which suggests they are 5,000 years old.

Bhimabetaka bison and elephant

Other caves have scenes from every day life. Group dancing Other caves have scenes from every day life. Group dancing. Men racing into a hunt. Warriors advancing. Processions. Horse riding. Or men walking with their horses. Each scene of stick figures is about a foot high. According to the information available at the site, the cavemen probably used brushes made from twigs to execute their work. The colours available were extremely limited. Red and white was the norm. Yellow and green colours are apparent in a few caves. But these colours were probably not as durable as the standard red or white because the flowers and other subjects etched in yellow and green are hardly visible. The colours that have stained these walls were derived from magnesium, red stone, charcoal, plant extracts and haematite. The drawings and implements have been classified into several periods -- among them the Mesolithic, Chalcolithic, Upper Palaeolithic, Middle Palaeolithic, Acheulian periods. Bhimabetaka dog

Bhimabetaka hunters Historians are still debating about the significance of this rock art. A theory tendered is that these shelters were transient homes for this hunting community and the etchings were a ritual to ensure good game on their hunting forays. There are, of course, a number of contradictions. Like the fact that Mesolithic man was not in the habit of partaking of elephants and tigers... but they are on the walls of Bhimbetka The earliest paintings are of mesolitic times followed by the chalcolithic and then historic periods. These paintings, done with the help of thin brushes probably made of twigs, show a myriad of animals and human figures, intricate designs, riders, royal procession, hunting, battle scenes etc. Majority of paintings are in various shades of red and white apart from some paintings in green and yellow colours. In Mesolithic paintings wild animals and human figures are more common. The animals are shown standing,moving, running, grazing or being hunted singly or collectively. In the rock-shelter designated as "zoorock" -- the animals depicted are gaur, buffalow, tiger, leopard,bear, elephant, rhinoceros, neelgai, blackdeer, sambhar, chitah, four horned deer,fox, jackal and monkey. The paintings of historic period overlap the earlier paintings and depicts royal processions, battle scenes, man riding garrrisoned horses etc. Paintings here mainly deal with the relation of man and animal. Conveying dynamism and movement, these paintings specially of animals, are extremely natural in their depiction.

These rock paintings mirror the difficulties of the native man's struggle with life as also his accomplishments. You can see rock weaponry, bows, arrows, and then the knives. He wove baskets with bamboo and started climbing the trees. He learned how to weave a rope from tree bark and cloth from the fibers. He must have used fish bones as needle and trained dogs for hunting. About this time he also learned raising of birds for food. As the civilization progressed there were fights among tribes. There are lots of pictures in Bhimabetaka which illustrates ferocious warfare among humans. Since there are no signs of horses in the neighborhood of Bhimabetaka, the ones in the picture were probably confiscated from raiding invaders. Bhimabetaka warriors

After the daily life became easier, the native man turned to dancing in music. There are pictures of group dance, mask dance, and stick dance. Although it's a common concept that the native man was naked, the artist has drawn clothes on all the dancers. It's possible that the clothing was unisex Bhimabetaka dance

As the nomadic hunter-gatherers domesticated more animals and began to cultivate crops -- wheat, rice and corn -- around the world, Mesolithic cultures entered into the Neolithic Revolution