BHOPAL: The Baigas guarded a stone for centuries because it felt sacred. Science has revealed why it was extraordinary – a 65-million-year-old secret preserved in a forest shrine.A relic from when T-Rex ruled North America and Rajasaurus narmadensis stalked volcanic plains in India.The Madhya Pradesh directorate of archaeology, archives and museums recently identified the strange, temple-like formation deep in the jungles of Dindori district as a rare coral fossil from the twilight of the dinosaurs.A team documenting Dindori’s little-explored geological wealth first spotted photographs of the unusual formation worshipped by the Baiga indigenous people.Its layered, coral-like appearance raised questions. A field visit and several tests followed.ASI archaeologist Dr Manoj Kumar Kurmi said the tradition surrounding the stone shrine could date to 8,000-10,000 years ago, although human presence in the region is much older.“Back then, there were no temples in the architectural sense. People worshipped nature – a rock, a tree, a mountain or any other element they considered sacred, that may have later been marked as a shrine,” he said.Go back 65 million years and earth was a different place.A roughly 10km-wide asteroid slammed into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Alongside intense volcanic activity from India’s Deccan Traps, it triggered a global nuclear winter, wiping out about 75% of life and ending the dinosaur era while opening the door for small mammals.Archaeology commissioner Madan Kumar Nagargoje, who led efforts to document Dindori’s geological riches, said tribal people may not have had scientific instruments to determine the age or composition of rocks, “but had the intelligence to know they had something precious and they were guarding it”.Classified as a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG), Baigas are concentrated in forested districts, including Dindori, across thousands of villages and hamlets in the region historically known as Baigachak.Forests remain central to Baiga life, providing food, medicine and livelihoods while preserving generations of traditional knowledge.For Priyanka Ghose, a gynaecologist who worked for indigenous tribes and helped document Stone Age rock shelters at Ghodamada caves in Dindori, the discovery is another glimpse into a landscape still keeping its secretsSelected Dindori finds will soon go on display in a new gallery at the state museum in Bhopal.
