Society

Prehistoric rock paintings found in NW China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-25 15:21

LANZHOU - A group of 24 rock paintings dating back 9,000 years have been found on cliffs in a Yellow River valley in Northwest China's Gansu province, villagers and officials said Tuesday.

The paintings, which formed a rectangle 7.5 meters long and 4.4 meters wide, portrayed the family life of a man, two women and three children, as well as hunting and ploughing in their community, said Liu Zaiming, a local official in Pingchuan district in the city of Baiyin.

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Liu was among the first to detect the paintings on the red sandstone of Dalangshan Mountain in Pingchuan, on the western bank of the Yellow River, China's second longest waterway.

The paintings, first spotted by villagers in Shuiquan, a small, underdeveloped town two weeks ago, had turned darkish brown, but the figures, cattle and wild animals portrayed were still vivid when one climbed up the craggy mountain for a closer view.

Experts from the provincial cultural heritage bureau say the paintings date back to 7,000 BC.

Local officials said they were working on plans to turn the site into a tourist attraction and increase the local farmers' income.

Shuiquan, with about 35,000 people, is an impoverished rural town. Though its name means "a spring of water," it is plagued by drought throughout the year.