page_title: Bhanpura
section_title: Archaeological evidence
hierarchical_section_title: Bhanpura / History / Archaeological evidence
caption_attribution_description: English: A rock painting at Seeta Khardi near Bhanpura
context_page_description: Bhanpura is a town and a nagar panchayat in Mandsaur district, located in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. Bhanpura was discovered by King Bhanu bhil। It was also ruled by the Chandrawats of Mewar during the times of Rana Sanga's rule. The town is home to a number of historic places such as the Daraki-Chattan region, which is one of the world's oldest rock arts, Chaturbhujnath Nala rock art shelters, and the Hinglajgarh Fort. Bhanpura also has a museum that displays the popular arts of Mandsaur, including art from the Gupta era until the time of Pratiharas and Parmaras.
context_section_description: The excavation at Daraki-Chattan revealed immense information on the cultural occupation of the site. Daraki-Chattan is a small and narrow cleft or cave in the tall cliff faces of Indragarh Hill in the Vindhya range, overlooking the Rewa river valley. The cave is approximately 1.4 metres (4.6 ft) wide at its mouth, from where it continuously narrows down in width, finally closing at the depth of 8.4 m (28 ft) from its mouth. The cave is approximately 7.4 m (24 ft) in height. It bears more than five hundred deeply patinated cupules on both of its vertical walls. The Daraki-Chattan cupules were discovered by Ramesh Kumar Pancholi in 1992. The Archaeological Survey of India took up Daraki-Chattan region near Bhanpura as a case for the study of early petroglyphs in India, and commenced excavation under Giriraj Kumar in 2002. 
  
  Daraki-Chattan reveals the past of an extensive rock art in this cave.  The collection of stone artifact assemblage from the excavation undoubtedly reveals that the shelter was occupied by the Acheulean man. The experts studying the petroglyphs claim it to be the "oldest rock art in the world", about 2 to 5 lakh (200,000–500,000) years old.
  In order to study the early cupules in India, an international project called "Early Indian Petroglyphs" was established in 2000. It is a joint venture by researchers from Rock Art Society of India (RASI) and Australian Rock Art Association (AURA), under the supervision of the International Federation of Rock Art Organizations (IFRAO), Robert Bednarik and Giriraj Kumar.
caption: A rock painting at Seeta Khardi near Bhanpura
exif: {"Image Artist": "Chandramouli Singh Chouhan", "Image ExifOffset": "2150", "Image XPAuthor": "Chandramouli Singh Chouhan", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}