Rock Art Studies in India : A Historical Perspective

Contents: Foreword. Preface. 1. The basic area. 2. Distribution of sites and regional characteristics. 3. The formative period. 4. The intermediate period and modern stages of research. 5. Studies in northern region. 6. Rock art and other associated artefacts from Central India. 7. Studies on rock art sites of Eastern India. 8. Studies on the sites in the west. 9. Sites on Southern India. 10. Studies of other art objects. 11. Published literature—an evaluation. 12. Methodology adopted. 13. The concluding assessment. Bibliography.

From the preface: "Rock Art is possibly the only direct, authentic source of visual evidence to decipher the world of early man. Their views, both of environment and social realities are expressed through visual imagery. Therefore, in global situation, interest towards rock art research is increasing considerably. The reputed international journal of social sciences like ‘Current Anthropology’ for last few years also concentrating on rock art. The field of rock art research is primarily a multi-disciplinary in approach and in Indian context, much more contribution from the physical scientists is urgently required. It is for designing a more justified analytical technique for ascertaining absolute chronology of rock art."