Bhimbetka Caves History Timings Entry Fee Location

Know More Details About Bhimbetka Caves History Timings Entry Fee Location, how to travel, when to travel to Bhimbetka Caves

Bhimbetka Rock Shelters is a popular UNESCO World Heritage Site located about 45 kilometers from Bhopal. These rock shelters, which date back more than 30,000 years, are located at the foothills of the Vindhya mountain range. These rock shelters, also known as Bhimbetka Caves, are believed to be one of India’s largest prehistoric complexes and are home to cave paintings of human life ranging.

Bhimbetka Rock Shelters, located within the Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary, is an archaeological treasure with approximately 750 caves spread across seven hills over ten kilometers. The petroglyphs discovered within them are likely the country’s oldest known rock art.
These bear striking resemblance to the Bushmen cave paintings of the Kalahari Desert, Australia’s Kakadu National Park, and France’s Upper Paleolithic Lascaux cave paintings.

Bhimbetka Caves History Timings Entry Fee Location

In 1888, W. Kincaid, a British Indian official at the time, mentioned Bhimbetka for the first time in a scholarly paper. He referred to Bhimbetka as a Buddhist site based on information he gathered from local Adivasis (tribals) about the nearby Bhojpur lake. V. S. Wakankar was the first researcher to visit the site and discover its pre-historic significance, having seen similar rock formations in Spain and France. In 1957, he went to the region with a team of historians and reported on several prehistoric rock shelters.

The true scale and relative importance of the Bhimbetka cave walls were discovered and reported only in the 1970s.Over than 750 stone caves have been discovered since then. There are 243 in the Bhimbetka group, and 178 in the nearby Lakha Juar group.

According to the Archaeological Survey of India, evidence suggests that human settlement in these caves continued as from Ancient Times along the late Acheulian to the late Ancient periods until the 2nd century BCE. This is based on site excavations, artifacts and wares discovered, pigments in deposits, and rock paintings.

The walls and floors made of stone at this location are the oldest in the world.

Some of the monoliths found at Bhimbetka’s site were made with raw materials that came from Barkheda, according to research.

In 1990, the Department of archaeology Survey of India took over management of the 1,892-hectare site, which had been declared protected under Indian law. UNESCO designated it a UNESCO world heritage site in 2003.

Bhimbetka Caves History Timings Entry Fee Location

• Paintings in the Bhimbetka Caves
  The rock paintings depict everyday life events. Hunting, dancing, music, animal fighting, honey collection, body decoration, and household scenes are all depicted in the images. The oldest painting dates back 12,000 years, while the most recent art paintings date back 1000 years.
• Upper Paleolithic Period (Pre-Historic paintings)
  Image representations in linear form. Images in white, dark red, and green depict large animals such as bison, elephant, rhino, and tiger. Stick in the shape of human figures. Hunters are dressed in red, while dancers are dressed in green.

Mesolithic paintings were small in scale. The majority of the images depict Hunting Scenes. Hunters were depicted in simple clothing and ornamentation.

Animals’ emotional expressions were depicted here. Clothed women performing a community dance, food preparation, and images of men, women, and children.

Chalcolithic images show the exchange of ideas between cave dwellers and agricultural communities. The primary colors were white, yellow, orange, red, brown, and green. Images depict storytelling passion, hunter and animal survival struggle, power over animals, lifestyle, and daily events.

Tourists are allowed to go to the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters from morning 7 to evening 6 every day. The entry fee is Rs. 25 for Indians and Rs. 500 for foreigners.
The entry fee for two-wheelers is Rs. 100, and the fee for cars is Rs. 300.

 How to Go Bhimbetka Rock Shelters in Bhopal

• By Air: The Raja Bhoj International Airport is about 57 kilometers away from the rock shelters. This trip takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Tourists can hire a private taxi or an auto rickshaw from top car rental companies in Bhopal for the hour-long journey.
• By Rail: The nearest railhead to this location is the Bhopal Junction Railway Station, which is approximately 46 kilometers away. Traveling this distance in a private taxi or an auto rickshaw takes about an hour.
• By Road: The best way to get to this attraction from Bhopal by road is to take a bus from the Bhopal ISBT-HabibGanj bus terminal to Hoshangabad. Tourists should get off at the main road near Bhimbetka and walk towards it. However, due to poor road conditions, taking the bus should be the last option.