Cup marks: Rock art of Megalithic Stone Circles of Junapani

Abstract

In India, cup marks/cupules are the earliest known form of rock art reported from various Prehistoric rock art sites. However, their occurrences have been also noticed on the megalithic tombs at various sites. Occurrence of these cup marks on the megalithic structures in Nagpur was brought to lime light as early as in 1879 by Rivet Carnac. Since then no significant systematic study was conducted on cup mark stones and their relation to the structures in which they are found. Although various scholars studying Indian rock art have systematically and scientifically studied the cupules manifested on the walls, ceilings and floors of rock shelters and caverns, as well as those exemplified on the boulders and on bed rock, they are yet to provide a convincing cultural or artistic meaning of these petroglyphs. I have studied the occurrence of cup marks pecked on the boulders of stones circles of the Megalithic burial site of Junapani in district Nagpur, India, suggests, that boulders bearing cup marks follow some directionality towards some astronomically important directions. Certain identifiable geometrical and linear cup mark patterns common in some of the burials were also discerned in the study.

Multi-Period Regional Survey Data from Vidarbha, Maharashtra, India

“…Carved remains, including architectural and sculptural fragments, were dated stylistically with reference to a well-developed stylistic framework that already exists for the area. Other remains, such as 'megaliths', as well as other structures, were similarly dated with reference to existing relative dating framework [1,24].…”