What made Bhimbetka a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

Caves spread across Bhimbetka's vast expanse have paintings that reveal secrets of some of our earliest ancestors.

In fact, Bhimbetka has been a witness to a part of the human evolution - something very few heritage sites around the world can pride on. Of the 760 caves, 500 have paintings. These paintings are completely diverse in nature as the caves have been around for millennia.

The oldest paintings have larger figures, with just outline of animal or person, and attention on scenes of everyday life. The newer ones have smaller but elaborate figures, with religious motives, and the outline is filled with colour and details.

Some of these paintings are reported to be as old as 15,000 years. But new research hints that there are paintings which are 30,000 years old!

This older than time treasure, unfortunately, was discovered very late. In 1957, to be specific, by Dr. Vishnu Wakankar. And they earned the honour of UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. Very late, but absolutely deserving.