Carbon dating of pre-historic Berinag cave paintings to be done

Carbon dating of pre-historic Berinag cave paintings to be done

B.D. Kasniyal

Pithoragarh, Feb 4

Archaeology team of Inter-University Accelerator Center (IUAC) at New Delhi has been invited to take carbon dating of pre historical cave and wall paintings found in Berinag region of Pithoragarh district last week, said Chandra Singh Chauhan, Regional Archaeological Officer at Almora.

After the recent discovery by a rock climber on January 18 this year, Chandra Singh Chauhan had visited the cave and found that the painting at cave wall are of pre-historic era.”Since it is first such rock paintings found in Pithoragarh district, it needed to be studied from carbon dating points of view to find out its actual time of happening,” said Chauhan.  “We have written to the IUAC officials to send a team of archaeologists to take carbon dating of the cave,” said Chauhan.

A rock painting of 11 human figures alone with an animal depicted has been found  in a cave in Berinag sub-division of Pithoragarh district. The historians, in search of pre-historic existence of homo sapience species in Uttarakhand Himalayas have found copper age existence of human beings in Bankot and Nainipatal regions of Pithoragarh district earlier.

“The recovery of this cave and rock paintings in it is of much earlier copper age man and it will link the human existence in parts of Pithoragarh district, even in pre- historic era,” said Chauhan.