Context: Recently, researchers have discovered three fossils of the earliest known living animal, the 550-million-year-old ‘Dickinsonia’ on the roof of the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters.

Dickinsonia

• Dickinsonia is an extinct genus of basal animal that lived during the late Ediacaran period in what is now Australia, Russia and Ukraine.
• The individual Dickinsonia typically resembles a bilaterally symmetrical ribbed oval.
• Its affinities are presently unknown; its mode of growth is consistent with a stem-group bilaterian affinity, though some have suggested that it belongs to the fungi or even an “extinct kingdom”.
• The discovery of cholesterol molecules in fossils of Dickinsonia lends support to the idea that Dickinsonia was an animal.

Facts about Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka

• These rock shelters are located in the Raisen District of Madhya Pradesh, near Abdullaganj town and inside the Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary.
• The Bhimbetka rock shelters are an archaeological site of the Paleolithic age.
• The name Bhimbetka is associated with Bhima, a hero-deity of the epic Mahabharata. The word Bhimbetka is said to derive from Bhimbaithka meaning "sitting place of Bhima".
• Dr V. S. Wakankar, a most renowned  archeologists, discovered these cavesin 1958.
• These rock shelters are declared a World Heritage Site in 2003.
• The entire region comprises more than 600 caves.
• These cave paintings show tremendous similarity to the aboriginal rock paintings of the Savanna regions of Australia, the paintings done by pygmies of the Kalahari Desert and the Paleolithic Lascaux cave paintings of France.
• These paintings demonstrate the lifestyle  and everyday activities of our ancestors.
• Various community activities, like birth, burial, dancing, religious rites, hunting scenes, animal fighting and merrymaking, also pictured in these paintings.
• Pictures of animals like rhinoceros, tigers, wild buffalo, bears, antelopes, boars, lions, elephants, lizards etc. also descripted.
• It is quite  amazing that the colors of the paintings at Bhimbetka have skillfully avoided the vagaries of time.
• Natural red and white pigments are common colors used in these paintings. Green and yellow colours are also used.
• The colors are a combination of manganese, hematite, wooden coal, soft red stone, plant leaves and animal fats.
• Huge linear figures of animals are the trademark of Paleolithic paintings. With the passage of time, paintings became smaller, precise and more delicate.
• The oldest of all the paintings dates back to around 12,000 years back, while the most latest is around 1000 yrs old.
• There are only 12 caves are open for visitors, out of around 600 caves in Bhimbetka.
• These caves are like the colourful shards of a broken mirror that unite to provide a rich glimpse to the lives of our predecessors.