Ancient Stone Age tools found in a cave in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg
Excavations earlier this year revealed several stone tools in the cave that date back tens of thousands of years. "Nowhere in the world can we find rock art of this kind," says Dr Tejas Garge, who heads Maharashtra"s archaeology department.
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Mumbai, Sept 19: In a recent excavation in Maharashtra's Konkan it has been confirmed that the stone tools found from a cave in Sindhudurg district dates back to almost tens of thousand years ago. The recent excavation is a continuation of the excavation started a year ago when a stone age cave was discovered.
A cave was discovered in Maharashtra's Konkan region by a group of researchers last year. The cave is located around 10 km away from Koloshi village, in Sindhudurg district. Excavations earlier this year revealed several stone tools in the cave that date back tens of thousands of years. "Nowhere in the world can we find rock art of this kind," says Dr Tejas Garge, who heads Maharashtra's archaeology department.
Archaeologists believe that the artefacts can facilitate researchers find out more about the way human ancestors lived. The cave, which is located deep inside a forest in Sindhudurg, was discovered by researchers who were studying rock carvings in nearby areas. Excavation work was conducted in two rounds, during which archaeologists dug two trenches inside the cave. Several big and small stone tools dating back to the Mesolithic period have been found.
"The microliths, or the small stone tools, date back to around 10,000 years, whereas the larger tools could be around 20,000 years old," says Rutivij Apte, who has been researching the Konkan petroglyphs and was part of the excavation team. BBC quotes Dr Parth Chauhan, an archaeologist, saying that chemical processes are used to analyze any residue that might be present on the edges of the artefacts. This can help determine what the object was used for. He added that, "It will take a couple of months to find out the exact time period these stone tools belong to. But right now, we can say that these artefacts are between 10,000 to 48,000 years old."