(CS1.4) Community engagement for cultural stewardship: prehistoric Konkan geoglyphs in India

Konkan geoglyphs are bas-relief carvings tentatively dated from Mesolithic to historic periods, spanning thousands of years. They are spread over a 900km long coast in Western India, and exhibit rock etching and scooping techniques to depict human, animal and abstract figures including many marine and riverine animals, mammals, reptiles, amphibian and avian fauna that are now extinct in the region.
The geoglyphs face existential dangers from infrastructure development projects such as roads, building construction, and laterite mining which is the largest industrial activity in this economically less developed region with a population of around 30 million. Private mining of laterite as construction material and a proposed mega oil refinery are just some of the threats to these Konkan geoglyph clusters, a select few of which were added to the 2022 UNESCO tentative list.
There need to be concerted efforts to conserve these geoglyphs. To that end, this presentation discusses a cross-disciplinary project proposal with two main objectives: to create a favorable environment for alternate sources of income for the community via sustainable tourism development with guide training programs and to foster a sense of cultural stewardship of these prehistoric cultural sites by encouraging public engagement. I will discuss the work of the non-profit Nisargayatri in Konkan who have worked to conserve and promote these sites for over a decade. They have chosen two clusters of Geoglyphs for the pilot project to provide tourism-related training programs, local festival creation, and school programs.