Four months ago, a wildlife trail through the rocky outcrops of the Bhondsi stretch of the Aravalli forests in Gurgaon led wildlife enthusiasts to a stone surface marked with dozens of carefully carved cup-shaped depressions, geometric grids, and a large foot-shaped engraving.
That spot has since been identified as a cluster of ancient petroglyphs (images or designs carved or engraved on rock), possible stone game boards, and stone tools —part of a wider archaeological pattern emerging from the Aravalli belt where, researchers say, evidence from multiple prehistoric phases appears to survive within the same landscape.
“A chronological continuity is being found here,” said Akash Gupta, a PhD scholar and faculty member at Delhi University’s Satyawati College who has examined the Bhondsi material. “The discovery is significant because it shows a rare continuity of human activity linking early tool-making traditions with later ritual, symbolic, and social life across this region.”
Gupta said scholars such as French archaeologist André Leroi-Gourhan viewed hand engravings on rock as evidence of a cognitive shift. Placing the latest discovery in context, he said the region has yielded signs ranging from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Mesolithic period.
“Handaxes and cleavers point to early stone-tool traditions, while the tools indicate later Middle Palaeolithic activity (300,000 to 50,000 years ago). The cupules (cup-shaped depressions) and rock-art-like markings are more likely to belong to later symbolic or ritual phases, especially the Mesolithic, when prehistoric communities are known to have left behind paintings, burial practices and other markers of social life,” he said.
Officials said excavation teams from the Chandigarh Circle of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Haryana Archaeology Department have been documenting the site, including the petroglyphs and other remains, and have submitted a report.
Kamei Athoilu Kabui, Superintending Archaeologist with ASI’s Chandigarh Circle, said, “The site needs to be protected from the land mafia and further steps in this regard need to be taken by the state government department.”
She said the ASI’s local exploration team, working with local villagers, had found in situ petroglyphs and stone tools.
Anil Tiwari, Deputy Superintending Archaeologist, ASI Chandigarh, said: “A brief report was prepared but there is still a lot of scope for further work and research.”
According to Shalaish Baisla, a PhD scholar and researcher at the School of Heritage Research and Management, Dr B R Ambedkar University Delhi, the Bhondsi documentation began after wildlife photographers Yatin Verma and Ramkumar shared images of the cup-marked rocks they had come across in the forest in February.
Verma said, “During a birdwatching trip with my team, we heard a leopard calling from a cliff above us. The cliff is a popular spot for yoga and recreational activities among local residents. After the calls ceased, we hiked to the top to inspect the area. There, I noticed several engravings that resembled the petroglyphs I had seen in reports and news articles.”
Baisla later visited the site with Tejveer Mavi, “a local expert from Kot village whose field knowledge of the Aravalli landscape has helped researchers identify several prehistoric markers across the ridge”.
The Bhondsi cluster, located near the Bhuvneshwari Mata Mandir temple complex in the belt running from Delhi’s ridge through Gurgaon and Faridabad, is unusual because of the concentration and variety of markings on the exposed rock surfaces.
The team has documented cupules, geometric engravings, possible two-player game-board patterns and a large foot-shaped engraving, said Baisla, adding that this may have had ritualistic or ceremonial significance.
The team has been using LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) scanning – a laser-based remote-sensing technique that captures the shape and depth of surfaces in high detail – to create detailed digital records of the petroglyphs.
Baisla said the aim is to preserve the fragile open-air evidence “before it is damaged by weathering, construction pressure, quarrying or uncontrolled visitation”.
The documented material is also expected to be made publicly accessible through the digital platform of Vanyaravali Foundation, a heritage NGO.
Baisla’s broader surveys have recorded similar petroglyphic and prehistoric markers across the Aravalli landscape, including at Sanjay Van, the JNU ridge, East of Kailash, Surajkund, Mohabatabad, Dhauj, Kot, and sites extending towards Alwar.
(Left) Foot engraving on quartzite rock; an Acheulean bifacial hand axe found close to rock art cliff. (Image Courtesy: Tejveer Mavi, Shailesh Baisla and Yatin Verma) 
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