Amidst hills and streams, a few kilometers ahead of Rivona, in Quepem, we find evidence of a pre-historic site. The ‘protected monument’ signboards guides one to the place of the rock-carvings. From the main road, a footpath winds its way to a small rivulet, where a good portion of its bank is covered with flat, unbroken laterite stone. It is on this flat ‘canvas’ that the pre-historic man carved many of his animals and geometric shapes. (However, in heavy rains it gets submerged).
It is difficult to say what time period these carvings belong to or what possible purpose they served. Like everywhere else in India, pre-history is lagging because of a dearth in excavations which helps us to obtain a stratigraphic sequence (layers of soil) in order to assign a time period for the archaeological assemblage and the use of such rock-carvings. At best, we can only have a conjecture about their possible use. But technicalities aside, with a stopover at the Rivona zhor (spring), this can be a good weekend getaway!
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| A view of the rivulet. |
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| An anthropomorphic depiction. |
Nice work Dale. Keep it going,
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ReplyDeleteHow interesting and exciting at the same time - a must see the next time I visit Goa. Thank You PATRICIA PEREIRA