Ancient rock art found near Coimbatore
A dolmen found in the backdrop of Anamalai Hills, about a kilometre away from the ancient rock art site discovered near Mavadaippu village in Coimbatore district.A natural cavern with a profusion of ancient rock art, contemporary tribal paintings and even modern-day graffiti has been discovered near Mavadaippu tribal village, about 7 km from the Kadamparai hydel power station in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore district.K.T. Gandhirajan, art historian and explorer, P. Manivannan, K. Natarajan and a group of students from the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai, made the discovery on May 17.They also found about a kilometre away from the site a number of dolmens, called "muni aria" in Tamil, in four different locations in the backdrop of the Anamalai hills. The dolmens are in square, rectangular and even round shapes. Some have compartments inside.According to Mr. Gandhirajan, who is a post-graduate in Art History, "a spectacular feature of the site is that the rock surface is an admixture of ancient rock art and contemporary tribal paintings, showing continuity of tradition as it were."
The paintings have been done on a rock surface that is 40 feet long and 20 feet tall. He and other experts put the date of the ancient rock paintings around 1500 B.C. These paintings include a tiger with its mouth wide open, a deer with straight horns, a porcupine, a wild boar, a peacock and elephants.
