: Renowned archaeologists and historians will get into a huddle here at 19 Congress of Rock Art Society of India here to debate various dimensions of rock art such as the contentious issues of dating, its documentation, preservation and conservation techniques adopted in various parts of the country and the world.
The Department of History, Pondicherry University in association with Archeological Survey of India(ASI) is organising the 19th Congress of Rock Art Society of India(RASI) for three days from coming Thursday.
On the occasion of academic event, a week-long photo exhibition has been organised by Archaeological Survey of India, Chennai circle entitled “Rock art sites and monumental art of Tamil Nadu” from December 1 at the seminar hall of the School of Social Sciences, silver jubilee campus.
The photo exhibition portrays the rock art sites of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, important excavated neolithic and megalithic and historical sites in south India.
N.Chandramouli, organising secretary, said the exhibition portrays rock art sites of Tamil Nadu and Kerala regions and some of excavated sites of early agro-pastoral sites and megalithic sites.
More importantly the issue of conservation of temples of Tamil Nadu, particularly Brihadeeswarar Temple, and other temples at Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Darasuram are on display here.
“We show the difference of the stages prior to preservation and after it as well as the conservation and the scientific method of work involved in the conservation process. All students of history and archaeology need to have a visual understanding of how archaeological sites look like and how the archaeologists work in the field to unravel the mysteries of the past.”
According to Pondicherry University Vice-Chancellor, Chandra Krishnamurthy, such exhibitions would enlighten them about the value of the priceless heritage of India.
At the congress, a delegation of 10 Chinese scholars and two from France are participating along with 75 Indian delegates drawn from various parts of the subcontinent.
The three-day academic event includes the keynote address on the recent developments in the dating methods in Chinese rock art by Tang Huisheng, Hebei Normal University, China. K.Nambirajan, Director(monuments), Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi will deliver the Wakankar Memorial Lecture on “Rock –Art of South India:The Challenges Ahead”. V.H.Sonawane, M.S University, Vadodara will deliver the Silver jubilee lecture on “The Development of Rock art Research in India”.
There will be 40 paper presentations, panel discussions and debates to create a roadmap for future rock art research.
