An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c18.s3.1

v1.c18.s3.1

Certain spots in the shelters once selected for painting were repeatedly used for this purpose over a long period of time. Later artists created their works over the already painted surfaces without caring to erase the existing paintings. Thus the successively younger paintings overlap the older ones. It is not uncommon to find three or four superimposed layers at one spot. The paintings of different layers are reasonably clear when they are executed in different colours. But where a single colour has been used for successive paintings, the latter tend to become a jumble, and it is difficult to disentangle them. Though this situation seriously affects the aesthetic appearance of the paintings it is of great help to archaeologists in establishing their relative chronology.