CHENNAI: A team of archaeologists who walked through dense forests after hearing from a local person about some mysterious ‘symbols’ inside a rock shelter has ended up making a great discovery.The team found ten pre-historic rock paintings inside a rock dwelling/shelter in Viraliyur, a hamlet 32 km from Coimbatore. The images, mostly in red ochre and one in white, depict the figurines of animals, human, square and triangle patterns with decorative motifs and unidentified symbols.Even though the “two ‘kissing deer’ and hunters with bow and arrow are done with great aesthetic sense, the signs and symbols found here attain significance as they raise questions about whether the prehistoric men were aware of geometry. The team, led by rock art expert KT Gandhirajan , said these paintings must have been created by different artists in three different periods.“The red ochre paintings in this shelter might have been done during the neo-lithic period (3000-4000 BP (before present)) based on the subject and its executions. The paintings in white depict two hunters with a dagger. This could be belonged to iron age (2000–2500 BP),” said Gandhirajan, who with Kumaravel Ramasamy and Sudhahar Nalliappan, discovered the site.How does the team calculate the date? “In many places in the Kongu region reported with iron age implements is additional support to date this painting,” he said.Viraliyur is locked by mountains in its northern side. The team began trekking to the site based on the information by a local person. He said he had seen some mysterious symbols inside a rock shelter situated a little away from the village temple dedicated to the hunting god. “We walked more than seven km from the temple to reach the site which is called “Mel Saamy Kugai” (cave of the mountain god). We found ten images in various places of the shelter,” he said.The team of archaeologists, however, doesn’t believe that the site had been used as a permanent habitation since prehistoric period. “It could have been used as a temporary shelter during the time of honey collection, hunting and other activities in the forest. Even now this shelter has plenty of beehives inside it. The ancient people might have used it as a shelter to protect themselves from wild animals,” said Gandhirajan.In Kongu region, these kind of rock paintings are found in places like Kumuthipathi, Vellarukkam Palayam and Kovanur. Most are done by white pigments, but in Viraliyur the case is different. Most are done in red ochre, barring a single composition in white pigment. “In Tamil Nadu rock art, geometrical patterns are not found often. The square and triangle patterns found here are filled with decorative motifs. This is an unusual depiction in the context of rock art in Tamil Nadu. This shows that the prehistoric artists are aware of geometry. It’s a great idea and needs to be studied in detail,” said Gandhirajan, who has discovered many rock art sites in Tamil Nadu.

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