Discovered in Bhimbetka, India’s lone fossil of world’s oldest animal
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Researchers believe they have found the first-ever fossil in India of a Dickinsonia the Earth’s ‘oldest animal’, dating back 570 million years on the roof of what’s called the ‘Auditorium Cave’ at Bhimbetka.
Two experts from Geological Survey of India, on a sightseeing tour of Bhimbetka, found imprints of the Dickinsonia (Earth’s ‘oldest animal’ dating back 570 million years) on the roof of ‘Auditorium Cave’
(This story originally appeared in on Feb 10, 2021)BHOPAL: Hidden in plain sight, one of the rarest fossils in the world may have been discovered in the fascinating Bhimbetka rock shelters, a Unesco site about 40km from Bhopal.
A Natural Work of Art May Be Hiding Among Indian Cave Masterpieces
What may be an overlooked fossil in a well-known cultural site could offer clues to the age of its underlying rocks.
Cave paintings at the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters in Madhya Pradesh in India.Credit.Frédéric Soltan/Corbis, via Getty Images
By Joshua Sokol
Feb. 5, 2021
Ten thousand years ago or more, people started painting the walls of caves near Bhopal, India. Over the millenniums they made thousands of images in what are now called the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters: men, women, a couple having sex, dancers, children, hunts, battles, about 29 different animal species and mythical beasts like a part-boar part-ox part-elephant.