Imagination runs sky high in interpreting rock carvings

There are herds of camels, sheep and wolves, human figures apparently on skis, and, the biggest surprise of all, a flying object that resembles an aircraft or a rocket. These are the ancient pictographs of Altay prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, which is endowed with one of the richest collections of ancient rock art in China.

There are at least 114 rock carving or drawing sites and 11 pictographs, according to the latest national cultural relic survey, completed four years ago.

In one case, archeologists discovered a site in Habahe county of a pictograph that seems to depict a flying object resembling an aircraft, says Liu Shihe, an official with the county's information office. Archeologists are still baffled by the pictograph, he says.