Sites of Rock Carvings and Paintings

Edakkal Caves

Toberimala

Thenmala

Attala

Ezhuthu Guha

Kovilkadavu

Ancode

Edakkal

About 446 carved motifs.

Toberimala

About 84 carved motifs.

Situated in the Tea Estate of Harrison Malayalam Ltd, some 14 kms to the east of Ambalawayal. (Visitors should seek permission from the estate owners. The shelter is hidden in dense forest about two kilometres from the estate office, and is accessible only on foot). Edakkalmala is on the west, and is clearly visible – though it is difficult to know for certain that this would have been the case before the area was deforested in the late 19th century. The Toberimala site is not a cave as such, but a west-facing rock shelter with a prominent overhanging roof. There are thin linear engravings inscribed in the rough grained ceiling (which slants at an angle of some 45 degrees) and in the northern wall, also 13 small cup-marks on one of nine boulders lying inside the shelter, and cross-hatched marks on the outer wall which may be an identification mark for the shelter. Unfortunately the rock surfaces have been badly damaged by recent visitors, whose engravings sadly lack the sophistication of their prehistoric forebears.

Tenmalai

Situated at the foot of Chendurni Hill in Tenmalai Village Panchayat and Anchal Block of the Pathanpuram Taluk of Quilon District, 66 kms east of Quilon. One large, carved motif. An east-facing rock shelter in which Mesolithic artefacts have been excavated. The unusually large carving (about 1.75 meters long) is on the northern outer face of the shelter.

Ancode

Situated in the village of Perunkadavila in Neyyattinkara Taluk of Trivandrum District, 25 kms north-east of Trivandrum. About 37 carved motifs. Rock shelter and cave with carvings of human and animal figures as well as abstract shapes on both the internal and external walls.

Sites of Rock Paintings

Attala

Situated near the village of Kavakudi in the west part of Marayoor township in the Marayoor Panchayat of Devikolam Taluk of Idukki District. About 94 painted motifs. Massive east facing rock shelter in dramatic location 1500 meters above bean sea level. Except for a few human and animal figures, most of the paintings are of abstract designs.

Ezhuthu Guha

Situated in the Koodakavu Sandalwood Reserve Forest at Marayoor in the Marayoor Panchayat of the Devikolam Development Block in Idukki District, at an elevation of 1000 meters above mean sea level. About 90 painted motifs. The most important rock art site in Kerala, receives a large number of visitors and has been extensively vandalised during the 20 years or so since it was brought to wide public attention. A painted rock shelter .

Kovilkadavu

Dozens of Dolmens around the area of an old Siva temple at Kovilkadavu on the banks of the Pambar, and rock paintings on the south-western slope of the plateau overlooking the river. About 10 painted motifs.