Paintings in Rock Shelter 8, Bhimbetka Rock Shelters.

Bhimbetka is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the oldest Indian petroglyph archaeological site dating back to the Paleolithic Era, establishing proof of human habitation in the Indian sub-continent. The Paleolithic Era extends from around 2.6 million years back to the Pleistocene Period, approximately 10,000 BP (Before the Present) years. 1st of January 1950 stood as the Present day when radiocarbon dating technology was available.

Bhimbetka is in the Raisen district in Madhya Pradesh state, central India. Some of the rock shelters in the area were dwellings to ‘Homo Erectus (extinct species of Hominin) for more than 3 lakh years. Many rock paintings on the rock shelters here were painted using vegetable colors and stood the test of time. 30000-year-old rock paintings were found in the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka. Rock shelters numbering more than 750 were discovered in the region. Bhimbetka is home to the world’s oldest stone walls and floors and is among the best petroglyphs found anywhere in the world.

Bhimbetka rock shelters are inside the Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary and Ratapani Tiger Reserve. It is in the southern portion of Vindhya hills. Satpura Range of hills lies south of these Rock Shelters. The Mountain ranges of Vindhya and Satpura, the two east-west mountain ranges, divide the Indian sub-continent into North India and South India.

How Do I Go to the Bhimbetka Rock Painting site?

OBAIDULLA GANJ, with station code ODG, a small station where a few trains stop, is the closest railway station around seven kilometers to the Bhimbetka petroglyph painting rocks site. (Few trains from Mumbai, Gujarat, and other central Indian cities stop here.) The nearest major railway station is the one at Bhopal.