Prehistoric India to 1000 B.C. c9.30

c9.30

In passing, mention must be made of the paintings found in certain Central Indian rock-shelters, as in those at Singanpur. These paintings have been claimed as Upper Palaeolithic and compared with the well-known series in the caves of Western France and Spain, but Gordon’s recent work has shown that not only is there no evidence of a Palaeolithic date, but that inferential evidence makes it difficult to date any of the paintings before the fifth century B.C. at the earliest. Conclusive evidence for the existence in India of any Upper Palaeolithic cultures comparable to those of Europe or the Near East is, therefore, still to be found. It may not be without significance that the Anyathian industry of Burma (a chopper-tool culture comparable to Soan) appears to have continued uninterrupted by outside influences until the local Neolithic, which may well have been a very recent event.