Bodies in motion: India's rock art is a window on prehistoric performing arts

Article Abstract:

Rock art from caves in central India provides valuable information on the prehistoric practice of performing arts. The paintings are especially abundant in the Vindhya Hills and Mahadeo Hills in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The earliest examples show swaying motion of the dancers with an S-shaped body. The style became stiffer after the advent of agriculture and pastoralism from the third millennium BC through the first millennium BC. A distinctive regional style developed in the Mahadeo Hills after 300 BC, characterized by heads shown in profile with two eyes.

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The prehistoric Pacific

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Archaeologists have discovered that the people who in ancient times colonized the islands of the Pacific came from Asia. Thor Heyerdahl built a balsa-wood sailing raft, the Kon-Tiki, in an attempt to show the Pacific could have been settled from the Americas. However, linguistic, genetic and archaeological evidence show the first humans came to those islands from Asia.

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Images of the spirit world: rock art of the San people

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The San people, ancient inhabitants of southern Africa, left many rock paintings in what is now Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Lesotho. These paintings depicted antelopes and other animals, hunting, rituals, and mythical creatures. Though once dismissed by scholars, these paintings have now taken their place among the world's great art traditions.

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