Researchers from Karnatak University Dharwad have identified an important rock engraving site in Kalluru of Bhatkal taluk, Uttara Kannada.
A team of scientists from the Department of History and Archaeology, led by Jagadish Asode and Madhuri Chougule, found the site.
They said that it is being considered as the biggest and an important pre-historic site in the coastal belt as such a big rock art site with 20 engravings in laterite belt have been hardly noticed in any coastal sites of Karnataka and Goa.
The site locally called Barakolboli, is located one kilometre from Karuru and six kilometres from Murudeshwar.
It is 13 m long and 20 m wide. About 20 rock engravings of human beings, animals like deer and bullocks, have been chiselled out on the laterite ground surface in four groups.
The engravings of most of the figures are in uniform width and depth. The first group contains a standing human being figure, bullocks, deer and an archer. The human figure measures 1.65 m height and 01.25 m width. His circular head faces his raised right hand.
The right hand is hanging free. A long rope is tied to his right hand and is linked with a bullock to his right side. The rope from his right hand is also linked straight to an archer below the human figure. A circular pothole with little depth has been chiselled out, one near the head of the human figure and the other near his feet.
Below the archer is shown a circular pothole which is linked with a rope to the hole near the archer and the below figure. It has two long parallel horns which are going back side and has a tail elongated body and measures 87 cm. It has a long body and could be identified as a deer.
Below the deer figure are two animals. The lower one is smaller than the one above. The upper one could be a deer. The head is not distinct. Below its rectangular body has a deep pothole near the hind leg. Below the deer figure is shown a bullock. Near its face is a pothole.
The second group of figures has deer. Between their legs is a pothole. The head has two horns. One has its branch. Below the deer is shown a fawn. Near the big human figure on its right side is shown a bullock. It has also a hump, tail and horns.
In the fourth group of figures, there are three pairs of cup marks, shown one below the other. Each pair has a line of six cup marks. Out of 20 figures two are human being, two bullocks and 27 deer.
The end lines of the animals are curved. The legs, body, tales and faces are resembling the figures of pre-historic period.
The period is being estimated based on their styles.
The style of most of the animal figures are similar to the figures of Neolithic-Chalcolithic period (1,800 BC to 800 BC).
A few deer figures are similar to the figures of iron age megalithic period (1,000 BC to 200 AD). The big human figure is similar to the figures of early historic period (100 BC to 200 AD). A further study of the rock art site is continued.
The team worked under the guidance of retired professors R.M. Shadakshariah and S.K. Kallolikar.
During the study, Deputy Director, Archaeology, Museums and Heritage, Mysuru, S.K. Vasudeva, Senior Assistant Director, Department of Achieves, Manjula Yaligar, and Assistant Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Karnatak University, Aditya Hegde, and local resident Timmanna Gonda extended help, said a release.
