ThePahargarh Caves are acave complex containingprehistoricpaintings inMadhya Pradesh,India, near the village ofPahargarh, 58 km southwest ofMorena. The most prominent of the caves is known locally asLikhichhaj.[1]
The paintings were discovered in 1979 by D. P. S. Dwarikesh, a professor oflinguistics at theUniversity of Michigan, and Shri Ram Sharma, a civil engineer from Pahargarh. Dwarikesh and Sharma conducted preliminary surveys of the caves, documenting over 600 paintings, and speculated that there were thousands more. However, they were not able to obtain permission to excavate and the caves have not been investigated since.[2][3]
Made with red and whiteochre-based paints, the depictions include human and animal figures as well as abstract shapes.[3] The dating of the paintings is uncertain. According to Dwarikesh,ostrichegg shells discovered in the caves wereradiocarbon dated to 25,000 years ago,[2] but they also discoveredIron Age artefacts dating to ca. 1500 BCE and the paintings themselves depict tools consistent with a date of 600 BCE.[3][4]
26°12′40″N77°46′08″E / 26.211°N 77.769°E /26.211; 77.769
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