Bheembaithika Ek Khoj by Dr Narayan Vyas -Interview by Dr.(H).Rajesh Bijronia

Bhimbetka rock shelters, series of natural rock shelters in the foothills of the Vindhya Range, central India. They are situated some 28 miles (45 km) south of Bhopal, in west-central Madhya Pradesh state. Discovered in 1957, the complex consists of some 700 shelters and is one of the largest repositories of prehistoric art in India. The shelters were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2003. The complex is surrounded by the Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary.
The Bhimbetka region is riddled with massively sculpted formations in the sandstone rock. On the Bhimbetka site’s hill alone, where the bulk of the archaeological research has been concentrated since 1971, 243 shelters have been investigated, of which 133 contain rock paintings. In addition to the cave paintings, archaeologists have unearthed large numbers of artifacts in the caves and in the dense teak forests and cultivated fields around Bhimbetka, the oldest of which are Acheulean stone tool assemblages.