Rock shelters of Bhimbetka

Hundreds of painted rock shelters recognised by V. S. Wakankar in 1957 and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.

Raisen district, Madhya Pradesh, India · Palaeolithic to historic periods

Archaeologist V. S. Wakankar recognised the archaeological importance of the Bhimbetka shelters in 1957. The site preserves a long sequence of human occupation and paintings and was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2003.

The existence and documentation of the shelters is a documented finding. The precise ages of the earliest paintings remain a matter of active research, so specific dates should be treated as interpretations.