Proof that early man lived on the edges of the Capital
Sunil Harsana still can’t believe the rock paintings he grew up around may be several thousand years old. What are now being considered some of the earliest signs of human habitation in the National Capital Region were on his daily route, as he grazed his family’s cattle when he was a child, deep within the forests of Mangar Bani in Faridabad, the only patch of primary forest in the national capital region.
Harsana, now 32 and a conservationist and environmental consultant with the nonprofit Centre for Ecology Development and Research (CEDAR), came upon the markings again recently, when he was documenting the flora and fauna of the forest. He posted photographs and videos on Facebook in May, and in June the Haryana Department of Archaeology and Museums took notice and decided to pay them a visit.
It turns out the “paintings” aren’t just prehistoric, they are the first of their kind found in the Aravallis.
Dating these finds will take time. “All this needs to be studied in context to figure out when exactly they were made,” says SB Ota, retired joint director general of the Archeological Survey of India. “At this point there are different clusters of paintings, petroglyphs, tools and implements. Was it all made at one time? Were they made by different groups? Are there different styles?”
Whatever the findings, the art is evidence that early man did camp on the Delhi Ridge. “Before these findings, Haryana was only identified with Harappan-era archaeology,” says Banani Bhattacharya, deputy director of the Haryana state department of archaeology and museums. “Now there is evidence of continuous habitation from the Stone Age to the historical period, around Delhi.”