Prehistoric site in Faridabad could be a lakh year old, say archeologists

What is the News?

Archaeologists in Haryana have estimated that cave paintings discovered at a prehistoric site in Faridabad’s Mangar Bani hill forest may be up to lakh years old.

What did the Archeologists discover?

• Archaeologists have discovered cave paintings at a prehistoric site in Faridabad’s Mangar Bani hill forest.
• They believe that these paintings belong to the Upper Palaeolithic age, which could potentially make them one of the oldest cave arts in the country.

Significance of this discovery:

• This is the first time that a prehistoric site with cave paintings and rock art of a large magnitude has been found in Haryana.
  • However, tools from the Palaeolithic age have been identified earlier in parts of the Aravallis.
• Moreover, the latest discovery will take the history of Haryana further back in time.

Facts Mentioned in the Article:

About Palaeolithic Age:

• Palaeolithic is derived from the Greek word ‘palaeo’, which means old and ‘lithic’ meaning stone.Therefore, the term Palaeolithic age refers to the old Stone Age.
• Palaeolithic age in India is divided into three phases: Early or Lower Palaeolithic (50,0000 – 100,000 BC), Middle Palaeolithic(100,000 – 40,000 BC) and Upper Palaeolithic (40,000 – 10,000 BC).

About Radiocarbon Dating:

• Radiocarbon dating is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon.
• Method:
  • The basis of radiocarbon dating is simple: all living things absorb carbon from the atmosphere and food sources around them, including a certain amount of natural, radioactive carbon-14.
  • When the plant or animal dies, they stop absorbing, but the radioactive carbon that they’ve accumulated continues to decay.
  • Hence, measuring the amount leftover gives an estimate as to how long something has been dead.