Stone age carvings found in Aravallis.

• Latest discovery of stone carvings dating back to Paleolithic period in Gurgaon has added to Aravalis’ trove of history.
• The petroglyphs discovered in Badshapur Tethar village of Sohna include graffiti, and hand and footprints of humans and animals engraved on quartzite rocks. The site is atop a hillock and just 6km from Mangar, where cave paintings believed to be from the same period were discovered in 2021.
• Several tools and equipment used to make them were found at the site as well.
• These petroglyphs are highly significant, considering their antiquity can go to prehistory. These can be territorial, or used for ancient games or record-keeping.

About Paleolithic age

• Palaeolithic (‘Old Stone Age’) makes up the earliest chunk of Stone Age – the large swathe of time during which hominins used stone to make tools.
• During Lower Paleolithic (about 2.6 million to 1 million years ago), simple pebble tools and crude stone choppers were made by earliest humans.
• Middle Paleolithic (250,000 to 30,000 years ago) was characterized by flake tools and widespread use of fire.
• Upper Paleolithic (50,000-40,000 years ago until about 10,000 years ago) saw emergence of more sophisticated tools.