SURVEY & PILOT STUDY

A number of Survey and Pilot Study programs are organised as a part of IGNCA’s outreach programme and to encourage the scholars to work in this emergent discipline and keep them update about the status of Rock Art research in global perspective. And to encourage Indian scholars to take up this new discipline very seriously as it is directly related to the primeval vision of man and is perhaps the first creative act of human being.

IGNCA under its program – Adi Drshya (primeval vision of man) has initiated field documentation at national level for preserving the rock art sites/data, which is otherwise open to human vandalism and natural factors beyond one’s control. While recognising the importance of the Rock Art for the present generation and posterity the phase wise field documentation has been planned in different states of India with Rock Art concentration.

The field documentation is being done in collaboration with the local experts and institutions of the areas/ zones concerned. The data is being collected in a uniform format at the national level. A huge database has been compiled in this process. Thousands of images have already been digitised.

So far the documentation work has been initiated in the following states:

In Orissa, the documentation work was completed in the four districts – Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh and Sambalpur. Seven rock art sites and five villages were documented in these four districts. In the Raigada district of Orissa, fifteen villages were also documented. In Madhya Pradesh, the documentation work was completed in the three districts – Bhopal, Raisen and Sehore. Eight rock art sites and three villages were documented. In Uttarakhand, the documentation was completed in two districts – Almora and Nainital. Fifteen rock art sites and three villages were documented. In Jammu & Kashmir, the documentation work was done in the two districts of Leh and Kargil, in the Ladakh region. Thirty three rock art sites and a village were documented. In Chhattisgarh, the documentation work was done in the Raigarh district. Ten rock art sites and three villages were documented. In Jharkhand, the documentation work was done in the two districts – Hazaribagh and Chatra. Eight rock art sites and two villages were documented. In Karnataka, the documentation work was completed in the Bellary district. Thirteen rock art sites and five villages were documented. In Rajasthan, the documentation work was completed in the Bundi district. Twenty five rock art sites and five villages were documented. In Andhra Pradesh, the documentation work was initiated in the districts of Hyderabad, Medak, Mahabubnagar, Warangal, Anantpur, Cuddapah, Karnool and Khammam. Thirteen rock art sites and four villages were documented. In Tamilnadu, the documentation work was initiated in the districts of Krishnagiri, Dindigul and Dharampuri. Twenty one rock art sites and ten villages were documented.

The main objective of the project is to make textual, contextual video, photo documentation and communicate with people in the hinterland for archaeological research, and to build up a biocultural map, a mental and ecological atlas of the rock art landscape, on the basis of documentation of related folklore and natural and manmade features