![]() ![]() There are a number of suggested interpretations of cupules … ![]() Scholars have long debated the manufacture and utility of the cupules (Breton 1910 Klein 1972 Ampuero and Rivera 1971, 1993 Ibáñez 1999 Anati 2001 Papanikolaou 2005 Boivin 2007 Bednarik 2008 Robinson 2008 Arjun 2014, 2015a and 2015b). Cupules constitute a common type in rock art, ranging in age from the Palaeolithic to modern periods and they are found in every continent except Antarctica (Bednarik 2008). A cupule is a roughly hemispherical or circular man made depression, made with the help of stone hammer on a horizontal or vertical rock surface. Game boards or mancala are usually made on portable materials and words for them are found in over eleven Indian languages (Table–1). The importance of this evidence lies in the fact that, such evidence on basalt surfaces is rare compared to other rock types. Some examples of such game boards on rock surfaces are found on the basalt exposures in the campus of Deccan College, Pune. However, the evidence for such boards being made on the rock surfaces is occasionally found. Usually the board material is of wood, metal and stone planks. ![]() Though their origin is tentatively attributed to Africa, they are also widely used in South and Southeast Asian countries. Such cupule patterns functioned as game boards, which are popularly known as mancala. The custom of making cupules in more or less uniform size, in double or multiple rows is a later development, traceable from the African Neolithic. The antiquity of making cupules (classified as a type of Petroglyph) is traced back to the Palaeolithic cultural phase. ![]()
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