Metro India News | Hyderabad 

Research scholar, Kondaveeti Gopi of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) has discovered a rock-art site of significant prehistoric value near Palwancha, in Bhadradri Kothagudem district of Telangana. Kondaveeti Gopi is currently pursuing Ph.D at H.K.Sherwani Centre for Deccan Studies (CDS), MANUU and also had a long-standing history of documenting and discovering Megalithic and prehistoric sites across Telangana, particularly in tribal and forested regions.

According to Prof. Salma Ahmed Farooqui, Director, CDS, this important discovery was made during an exploration by Kondaveeti Gopi, who has earlier brought to light several megalithic and prehistoric sites in the region. Notably, he had previously discovered the Ontigundu Rock Art site near Nallamudi village and submitted a research paper on it to the Rock Art Society of India (RASI).

The newly discovered rock art includes depictions in red ochre of animals, hunting scenes, and human figures, rendered on the natural rock surfaces. Based on the stylistic and thematic elements, these paintings are tentatively dated to the Mesolithic period (approximately 10,000–5,000 BCE) or possibly to the early Neolithic transitional phase.

This new discovery not only adds another chapter to the prehistoric record of Southern India but also stands as a milestone in the exploration of Mesolithic cultural heritage in the Eastern Godavari Basin region.