The Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Yunnan Province, in cooperation with Nanjing Normal University, Wuhan University and other units, used uranium dating method to date the rock paintings of the Tiger Leaping Gorge In the middle section of the Jinsha River in Lijiang City, Yunnan Province, and determined that these petroglyphs were largely created by the Paleolithic hunter-gatherer population in the region.
(Photo courtesy of the interviewee)
(Researchers take samples of carbonate deposits associated with petroglyphs Courtesy of)
According to Wu Hu of the Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, since 2008, the research team has begun to investigate and study the petroglyphic heritage of the Jinsha River Basin with Yulong County, Ninglang County and Shangri-La City of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture as the core area, and put the rock paintings of the Jinsha River Basin in the context of international petroglyph research and incorporated them into the regional prehistoric archaeological and cultural framework (including the overall research of paleoanthropology, paleontology, paleogeology, paleogeography and other aspects). The early use of petroglyph style dating confirms that the Jinshajiang petroglyphs belong to the hunter-gatherer population petroglyphs, and are similar to the cave petroglyphs of the Paleolithic Magdelin period in Europe. Based on the development of high-precision uranium dating technology in recent years, this paper provides more accurate and sufficient empirical data, and the study for the first time gives clear evidence to support the dating of petroglyphs in the Jinsha River Basin dating back to the end of the Pleistocene - early Holocene, and the Jinsha River petroglyphs are also the earliest petroglyphs with absolute dating data in China and even in the entire East Asian region.
(Researchers collect samples for photo)
Over the past century, thousands of petroglyphs have been discovered in China. At present, petroglyph dating is still a worldwide problem, due to the lack of suitable dating materials, the East Asian continent has not yet found a reliable dating of Paleolithic petroglyphs. Yunnan Province is located on the southeastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and borders southeast Asian countries, with many petroglyphic heritages in the territory, mainly distributed in the lancang river and jinsha river basins. Most of the locations of Jinshajiang rock paintings use depictive techniques and realist styles to express images of animals such as bison, deer, rock sheep, goats, wild boars, chamois, roe deer, monkeys, wild horses, wild donkeys, bears, tigers, etc., which are accurately depicted, skillfully used with pens, and vivid forms; in addition, there are figures, bows and arrows, handprints and abstract patterns.
Wu Hu said: "Jinsha River petroglyphs are the oldest painted rock paintings in East Asia with dating data records, and are a unique taxon unlike petroglyphs in other parts of China, similar to the Paleolithic petroglyphs found in Europe, France, Spain, Southeast Asia and South Asia, and are important cultural relics carriers of prehistoric culture in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, which is of great significance for exploring the "roots of civilization" in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River."
(Courtesy of Jinsha River rock paintings)
Jinshajiang petroglyphs were first discovered in 1988, with the joint efforts of several generations of cultural relics workers and archaeologists, more than 70 petroglyphs have been discovered, which is one of the richest areas in the world in terms of similar remains, and the diversified content and long chronological span show that it is an important cultural heritage of the southwest region, and its unique style content and geographical location are of great significance for the study of the exchange and connection between the prehistoric population in the region and the prehistoric populations in northern Eurasia, Southeast Asia and South Asia.
It is reported that the research results were published in the journal of Archaeological Science, the top international archaeological journal, No. 138, 2022.
(China Daily Yunnan Reporter Station)