Bhimbetka rock shelters located 35 Kms from Bhopal in Raisen district of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, is a world heritage site. The rock cut shelters were used for dwelling by humans living some 100,000 years back. A few of the rock paintings date back 30,000 years. The actual site is located at the southern end of Vindyachal Mountains, further south to these site are Satpura mountain ranges. The whole area of Bhimbetka is full of dense forests, there is never ending source of water, nice forests with natural shelters, all these has made this place an ideal site for art display for the historical dwellers. The paintings here have a close similarity to such paintings discovered at other historical sites around the world, like the paintings at Australian Kakadu National Park, Bushmen paintings of Kalahari Desert and the French Upper Paleolithic Lascaux cave paintings. Science its discovery about 700 rock shelters have been found in the region of these 250 are in Bhimbetka alone, some 200 were found in Lakhar Juar area and rest else ware. The studies by Archeological society have revealed that the handing over of art in this site has been a continuous process from ages to ages. The oldest artwork dates back to prehistoric times about 150,000 years old. The themes of paintings here has common topic of day to day life such as dancing, hunting, music, elephants and horse riding, mother and child, child birth, pregnant women, body decorations, etc. Bhimbetka is a must see site for the people who keep interest in historically linked art forms.
