Kozhikode: The release of the documentary 'Edakkal, the Rock Magic’ provided a venue for historians and activists who fought for the conservation of the caves in Wayanad's Ambukuthi Hills to come together after decades. Paithrukam Samskarika Sangham produces the documentary. Delivering keynote address historian M.G.S. Narayanan said it was the hand in hand action by historians, conservationists and local people that resulted in the conservation of the rocks.
"Thousands of years ago in the Neolithic era human beings lived in caves far off from the threat from wildlife and other challenges in the plains. These carvings have less parallel on the earth,” he said. "More research into the carvings is essential to assess the value of the site in history to humanity." M.R. Raghava Warrier, also a historian, in his presidential address, said recent excavations at Edakkal shed lights on its link to Indus Valley civilisation.
“I have counted thirteen symbols with similarities to Indus valley,” he said. The documentary sheds light on the need for conserving the site and enlisting the site with World Heritage Status under UNESCO. It was in 1894 Fred Fawcett, the then police superintendent of Malabar, discovered the Neolithic habitat of cavemen in the wilderness of the district. Mr Fawcett was on one of his hunting expeditions on the hills. Even today his detailed study published in collaboration with his friends in ‘Indian Antiquary’, is the only comprehensive study available on the pictorial engravings. The rock pictures uncover the life of an era with trees, wildlife, hunters and Gods in various forms.
