A team of local explorers and archaeologists from the ASI have discovered a sprawling gallery of Upper Paleolithic cave paintings in a remote cavern system in the Aravali Range of Rajasthan. The artwork, executed in vibrant hematite pigments, depicts human figures in rhythmic poses surrounding a series of geometric patterns that researchers identify as celestial observations, including what appears to be a representation of the Pleiades star cluster.
Preliminary dating suggests the paintings are approximately 25,000 to 30,000 years old, placing them among the oldest examples of figurative art in South Asia. The 'Celestial Dance' panel, measuring nearly six meters in length, shows a high level of artistic sophistication with the use of shading and overlapping figures to create a sense of movement. This discovery provides new insights into the symbolic and ritualistic lives of early hunter-gatherers in the Indian subcontinent.