Rock Art and Earliest Human Organisation in the Stone Age

At a Glance

• Main site Bhimbetka, over 500 shelters
• Themes Animals, hunting, dancing
• Purpose Control over animals through ritual
• Band size About 25
• Later unit Exogamous clan in the Neolithic
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Ancient History: Prehistoric and Chalcolithic Cultures

Where Does It Fit?

This is the fourth topic of the category on prehistoric and chalcolithic cultures. The previous topic covered the Mesolithic, and this one covers early art and society. The next topic covers the Neolithic age. Previous topic: The Mesolithic Age – Hunters and Herders.

Where Is Stone Age Art Found?

In short: painted rock shelters, especially at Bhimbetka, preserve the art of hunter-gatherers.

People of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic ages practised painting, and prehistoric art appears in several places, but Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh is a striking site. It lies in the Vindhyan range 45 km south of Bhopal and has over 500 painted rock shelters spread over about 10 sq km. The paintings run from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Mesolithic and in some series up to recent times, though a substantial number of shelters belong to the Mesolithic. Many birds, animals and human beings are painted, and most of the animals were hunted for food. Perching grain-eating birds do not appear in the earliest group, which suggests a hunting and gathering economy. Some green paintings at Bhimbetka are assigned to the Upper Palaeolithic by style and archaeology. Other painted sites include Raisen, Pachmarhi and south Mirzapur.

Why Did People Paint?

It is argued that they painted for art’s sake, but this suggests too much sophistication at a very early stage. It is also said that art and ritual helped overcome social conflict, which may apply to complex societies with sharp social differences, which hardly existed in the Upper Palaeolithic. Most probably people depicted wild animals to ensure control over them, since hunting was their main source of livelihood. Some human male and female figures appear, but animals are frequent, and these rituals were realistic in the context of hunting. In the Harappan context animal depictions become conventional, and animals continue on seals even though people lived on grown food.

What Does the Wider Evidence Show?

Similar painted rock shelters are found in Madhya Pradesh and central India, showing people hunting, trapping animals, fishing and dancing, and the Mesolithic paintings at Bhimbetka, Raisen and Pachmarhi are the most numerous. Perching grain-eating birds are absent from the earliest group, so the earliest paintings belong to a hunting and gathering economy, and later paintings show other scenes as society changed. Beads and ornaments of the Upper Palaeolithic and haematite with rubbing marks suggest personal decoration. These finds show symbolic thought, ritual and a sense of beauty already present before farming began.

How Was Early Society Organised?

It is not clear whether humans lived in a band or pre-band society. Bands were formed for hunting, and the maximum size could be around 25. Bands could ally for mutual aid, and a larger group would not have exceeded around 500, with rituals possibly performed to ratify the alliance. Eventually the band became an exogamous group called a clan in the Neolithic phase; members of a clan always married outside it, while bands kept up relationships of mutual aid. In the Upper Palaeolithic, members of a band shared the fruits of hunting and gathering. Language seems to have originated in the Upper Palaeolithic phase, and communication may have helped keep people together and form bands and groups of bands.

As an analytical point, the art and the small-group society fit a world of hunters with little social differentiation; as food production arrived in The Neolithic Age – First Food Producers, larger and more settled groups formed. The tool traditions of the period are in Phases of the Palaeolithic Age and Major Sites.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Heritage Bhimbetka is a frequent question
• Interpretation Why prehistoric art was made
• Society Band and clan structures

What Came Next?

The next topic describes the Neolithic age. Next topic: The Neolithic Age – First Food Producers.

Key People and Terms

• Band Small hunting group
• Clan Exogamous kin group
• Exogamy Marriage outside the group
• Bhimbetka Painted rock shelters near Bhopal
• Ostrich eggshell Material for beads
• Shrine Sacred place

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions on prehistoric art ask about purpose and context. These points add depth.

• Art Hunting scenes at Bhimbetka
• Purpose Control over animals
• Society Bands to clans