Visakhapatnam: In an indication that primitive man lived in this part of the AP, Archaeology department officials have identified pre-historic rock art work dating back to 40,000 - 10,000 BC at the remote village of Nandigam in Srikakulam district.
Archaeologists have found three rock art work of 3x2 metres in red. One of them is of a lizard and the other two resemble wolves.
Though there are some sites in north Andhra that date back to the Mesolithic and Neolithic ages, this is the first time that rock art work belonging to the Upper Palaeolithic age has been discovered.
It was in the later stages of the Stone Age that rock art of human forms and their activities were done by primitive man. The paintings indicate that they are from the early Upper Palaeolithic age as during that era, humans drew only animals.
Archaeologists say that since the periphery of the paintings did not have any shelters like caves, they might have been drawn as warnings or an indication signboard.
“There are some Mesolithic and Neolithic age sites in Srikakulam and Vizag, but it’s for the first time that rock art work, that too belonging to the Upper Palaeolithic age, have been found in the three districts of north Andhra. This shows that there was a human culture in existence thousands of years back in north Andhra,” state Archaeology department’s assistant director K. Chittibabu told DC.
