Rare black stick-like drawings of human beings have been found in two caves at Paibogula village in Kurnool district close to the Kundu River.
An assistant professor in history at Sri Sathya Sai University for Human Excellence, Kalaburagi, in Karnataka, Yadava Raghu, who had been studying rock art in various places in the district and Kadapa for a long time, chanced upon these drawings dating back to the Megalithic Period (1500 to 500 BC) and early Historical period (500 BC to 600 AD).
An Ethno-Archaeologist, Mr. Raghu told The Hindu that these newly explored rock art sites in the Kundu river valley in Gadivemula Mandal are 40 km from Kurnool city and these caves are locally known as Yedoorlagayi; Siddhulagayi, and Gurralapadah.
These sites have rock art in black, red, and white pigments, along with cupules or cup marks of varying sizes, which need to be studied further for the exact dating, he added. These cupules were made on gneissic granite, a very hard and erosion-resistant rock type. The largest of these measures 10 cm in diameter and 5 cm in depth.
A gorge at the entrance of the village, called Chinna Kanuma, houses about 100 black-coloured portrayals, which is extremely rare, Mr. Raghu claimed. These are very unique findings in Andhra Pradesh, he opines and the majority of the depictions were of human figures or stick figures (representation of humans by stick-like drawings). The drawings depict a confident standing human with his left hand on his waist; a human with a trident-shaped weapon in his right hand; a bird that appears to be a pea-hen; and a human clutching a shield in his left hand.
The second shelter (Gurrala Padah or cave of horses), is located about 500 metres south of the village on the bank of a brook called Palle Pullamma Sela, which joins Kudu river. This shelter measures 19 metres in length from East to West and 11 metres from North to South. “We discovered red ochre and white pigment paintings on the rock shelter ceilings depicting a herd of horses; horses in association with humans; deer (red ochre) and a bull (white pigment) with a high hump,” he said.
