YINCHUAN, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- China is applying modern technology to further discover and preserve ancient cliff paintings in the Helan Mountains in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, racing against time to safeguard these ancient treasures.
Thanks to the power of integrated modern technological means, a new round of comprehensive surveys has so far discovered a total of more than 500 new cliff paintings in these mountains, the Helan Mountain cliff painting administration noted.
The administration launched this new survey work in 2020 to confirm the preservation status of existing cliff paintings and identify overlooked ones.
"Different from previous ones which relied mainly on a manual field survey, this new round of surveys has combined traditional field surveys with diverse specialized modern technological methods," said Zhang Jianguo, deputy director of the administration.
For example, Zhang explained that 3D laser scanners have been used to record carving marks on cliffs more clearly, while drones have been deployed over valleys to collect data from multiple angles.
"Aside from these, a new positioning system is being used to keep location errors within two to three meters, allowing professionals to navigate directly to target cliff painting locations, thereby greatly reducing field survey workloads," Zhang added.
The Helan Mountains are home to more than 20,000 cliff paintings created by ancient ancestors using stone tools, metalware or mineral pigments. These paintings depict over 100 types of natural imagery, including human faces, animals, plants, handprints and symbols, as well as scenes of ancient lifeways such as herding, hunting, sacrificial rituals and warfare.
The paintings date from approximately 10,000 to 3,000 years ago and were created by different groups of people over various periods.
Bearing witness to the evolution of ancient ancestors from hunting and nomadic herding to farming and animal domestication, they reflect numerous aspects of ancient life, like belief systems, lifestyles and scientific knowledge. They also attest to interaction and integration among different peoples, holding immense historical, cultural and artistic value.
In previous surveys, limited by methods and equipment available at the time, some paintings hidden deep in ravines or buried beneath shallow soil layers were not promptly recorded and archived, leaving gaps in documentation.
Zhang disclosed that these newly discovered cliff paintings are mainly located in the alluvial fan areas of the Helan Mountains, while their themes are largely consistent with previously discovered ones, such as animals and human faces, as well as depicting hunting, music and dance.
Animal themes are the most common in these newly discovered cliff paintings, with sheep featuring the most, followed by horses, cattle, camels and deer. Some exquisitely carved tiger paintings were also found. There are also images of human faces, some of which differ in style from those preserved on cliff walls, thus enriching the forms of expression.
As for ones depicting hunting, certain hunting patterns have been found to deliberately exaggerate the length of bows and arrows, resulting in distorted proportions.
Zhang explained that the location of a cliff painting has an impact on the theme depicted by the ancient people who carved it. "Cliff paintings in the valleys recorded certain types of events, while those on the alluvial fans tend to be associated with real hunting practices, providing a new direction for the study of prehistoric civilization."
"Notably, the newly discovered paintings include a rare depiction of a carriage drawn by four horses -- the first of its kind found in the Helan Mountains and a rarity nationwide, filling a gap in the local rock art collection," Zhang said.
Aside from supporting discovery efforts, modern technologies are also helping to sustain preservation of these treasures.
Having been exposed to the elements for tens of thousands of years, some of the Helan Mountains cliff paintings are in poor condition, with some carvings having faded or even disappeared due to weathering.
More alarmingly, these cliff paintings are located in a zone shaped by glacial action, where cracks and hollow voids behind the rock surface are common. After repeated rain and freeze-thaw cycles, rocks may split apart or peel away, making conservation work a matter of utmost urgency in this area.
The Helan Mountain cliff painting administration is collaborating with multiple institutions including the Nanjing Museum, Lanzhou University and Fudan University, regarding efforts to conserve these cliff paintings.
To date, they have completed topographic mapping of cliff painting areas and digital preservation of the paintings, in an endeavor which gives each painting an "identity card," Zhang said.
During this new round of survey efforts, professionals have collected data on the geographic locations, image types, dimensions and weathering damage of newly discovered rock paintings, as well as written information about the surrounding environment.
"Ancient people made deliberate choices about where to carve the paintings, so the environmental information is of great value for research and preservation," Zhang explained.
He added: "If salvage excavation for some cliff paintings becomes necessary in the future, we cannot simply move the rock itself, as the original geographic and environmental information must be fully preserved." ■
