Six Prehistoric Rock Art Sites Discovered In Bihar's Jamui; Experts Call For Further Study And Conservation
The sites came to light as Naxalism subsides and people were able to venture into the remote, hilly and forested terrain.
By Dev Raj
Published : April 25, 2026 at 4:21 PM IST
Patna: Six new prehistoric rock painting sites have been discovered in Jamui district of Bihar, triggering interest in the archaeological world about human settlements thriving in the area in the distant past.
Government officials associated with the find are now gearing up to protect and conserve them. These rock art sites are located deep in the Giddheshwar Hills under Khaira block of the district, around 200 km southeast from Patna. They came to light as rampant Naxalism subsided and people were able to venture into the remote, hilly, and forested terrain that was virtually inaccessible earlier.
Jamui divisional forest officer (DFO) Tejas Jaiswal led a team consisting of Bihar Museum curator Ravi Shankar Gupta and others on April 20 to look for the rock paintings after hearing about their existence deep in the hills from local people and tribals.
“The area was not easily accessible previously due to Left Wing Extremism (LWE), but we knew about places in the hills that could have served as shelters. We had knowledge about two existing sites of prehistoric rock art in the hills in the district since 2022, but expected to find more based on information shared by locals and former employees of the forest department,” Tejas told ETV Bharat.
The team set out from Jamui town, the district headquarters, driving for about an hour to reach a spot in the Khaira block and then trekking for about five kilometres to reach the rock shelters hosting prehistoric art. “We took help from locals, explaining rock art to them and asking if they had seen such drawings. Some remembered seeing them and led us to a site. We soon found six rock shelters, one after another, containing ancient drawings,” Tejas added.
These abris were rocky overhangs and natural shelters containing various forms or designs sketched on the stone walls by prehistoric men and women. “They used some red colour or pigment to draw various geometrical shapes, designs resembling wildlife – animals and birds – and various motifs. These need further study,” Tejas said.
The paintings or drawings include one that could be possibly the figure of a man, a spiral or ‘chakra’ design, as well as, a tortoise. A few resemble the shapes of tools that prehistoric settlers could have used. The DFO said official efforts have begun to contact the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Bihar government for further study, research and conservation of the Jamui rock art sites.
Usually, rock art is drawing, painting or similar work on stone dating back to ancient or prehistoric era. It includes pictographs, petroglyphs, engravings, geoglyphs, and petroforms. The animals, tools and human activities depicted are often symbolic, but help shed light on the daily life of settlers in the hoary past. They could also have played a role in the religious beliefs of prehistoric man with possible connections to myths, occult remedies, charms, and cures.
Such rock art sites have been found across all continents. Some of the famous ones include Altamira (Spain), Lascaux (France), Alta (Norway), Celebes or Sulawesi (Indonesia), and Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh, India). These span the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Chalcolithic periods – which differs from place to place.
In fact, Bhimbetka is one of the largest collections of rock art in the world. They feature paintings, some over 10,000 years old, from late Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. They display great vitality and narrative skills, showcasing man's progress from nomadic hunter-gatherers to settled cultivators and their expressions of religion.
Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) Patna chapter co-coordinator and former director of museums in Bihar, Umesh Chandra Dwivedi told ETV Bharat that a few rock paintings were previously found in Nawada, Jamui, Hazaribagh (Jharkhand), and adjoining districts.
“The latest rock paintings found in Jamui district are definitely prehistoric and could belong to the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. They could date back to 5000 BC. Further research of the sites and the areas around them could shed interesting light on human settlement and development,” Dwivedi said.
Asserting that the state government should initiate efforts to protect and conserve the Jamui sites, Dwivedi said their detailed documentation with good quality photographs should be done on priority.
“The visit of people to the sites should be controlled or restricted for conservation. Very few people know that even photographic lights could damage rock paintings. Moreover, common visitors could permanently destroy or damage the prehistoric paintings by writing or drawing on them,” Dwivedi said.
The former director of museums also suggested that an elaborate survey of the area should be undertaken as there could be more such sites hidden from the plain sight.
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