CaliToday (08/11/2025): Located in central India, Mesolithic-era paintings depict bizarre, slender humanoids and "flying disks," fueling local legends and theories of a prehistoric extraterrestrial encounter.
Deep in the tribal heartland of Chhattisgarh, India, near the town of Charama, a series of ancient caves hold a secret that continues to challenge our understanding of the distant past.
Etched onto these stone walls are not just the expected scenes of Mesolithic life, but something far more perplexing: vivid depictions of what look uncannily like humanoid beings and flying disks.
These paintings, estimated to be 10,000 years old, are so anomalous that in 2014, the state's own Department of Archaeology and Culture announced it would seek assistance from space agencies like NASA and ISRO to help decipher their enigmatic meaning.
The 'Visitors' on the Walls
The paintings, found in the Chandeli and Gotitola villages, are a striking departure from typical hunter-gatherer art. While many caves in the region show scenes of daily life, hunting, and rituals, a specific set of images stands out.
These figures are depicted with:
Elongated limbs
Large, round heads
A distinct lack of facial features, such as noses or mouths.
In some instances, the figures appear to be wearing objects resembling helmets or spacesuits.
Perhaps even more startling are the disk-shaped objects drawn alongside them. These objects, often shown in the sky, bear a striking resemblance to the classic "flying disk" or "UFO" archetype of the 20th century, raising tantalizing questions about what these ancient people truly witnessed.
The Legend of the "Rohela People"
For the archaeologists who first studied the site, the mystery was deepened by the local folklore. The villagers in the region have, for generations, passed down oral traditions of the "Rohela people."
According to these legends, the Rohela were "small creatures" who descended from the sky in "round boats."
The stories say these beings would occasionally land and, in some tellings, would even kidnap local villains or wrongdoers, who were then never seen again. The parallels between the 10,000-year-old art and the living legends of the region are impossible to ignore, suggesting the paintings may be a visual record of the event that inspired the myth.
A Prehistoric Encounter or Stylized Art?
The official archaeological interpretation remains cautious. The standard explanation for such bizarre figures in ancient art is that they represent shamans, gods, or mythological figures, perhaps wearing ceremonial masks and costumes, depicted during a trance or ritual.
However, the specific combination of features at Charama the "suits," the faceless heads, the flying disks, and the corresponding local legend has made it a global touchstone for "ancient astronaut" theorists.
While the 2014 proposal to involve NASA and ISRO highlighted the site's unique nature, the debate continues in 2025. Was this a simple case of artistic expression from a hunter-gatherer society, using symbols we no longer understand?
Or, as the theorists suggest, are these caves the 10,000-year-old incident report of a close encounter? To date, the stones of Charama remain silent, guarding one of archaeology's most fascinating and unsettling mysteries.
The Anh
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