%0 Journal Article
%T Cup marks: Rock art of Megalithic Stone Circles of Junapani
%A Riza Abbas
%J Open Access Library Journal
%V 1
%N 4
%P 1-6
%@ 2333-9721
%D 2014
%I Open Access Library
%R 10.4236/oalib.1100733
%X In <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place>, 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 <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Nagpur</st1:place></st1:city>
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.
%K Megaliths
%K Stone Circles
%K Cup marks
%U http://www.oalib.com/paper/3099313