Off the wire
• (Sports Focus) Rio opens Olympics with colors, curves and coolness (updated)  • Rain to relieve summer heat across China  • Roundup: Chinese performances applauded on opening day of The Fringe  • Rio bucks strong headwinds to open first Olympics in South America (updated)  • Xinhua Insight: Chinese art film carves a new path to audiences  • Rio bucks strong headwinds to open first Olympics in South America  • Yuan strengthens against other currencies in July: index  • Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima lights Olympic flame  • Brazilian runner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima lights Rio Olympics cauldron  • Feature: Economic opportunities and skill gap hurdles as Laos attracts Southeast Asia's spotlight  
You are here: 　 Home

Ancient cliff paintings discovered in N. China

Xinhua, August 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

Archeologists have discovered over 1,000 cliff paintings dating back more than 1,000 years in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The paintings are surprisingly well preserved, and feature sheep, camels, elks, tigers, wolves and people hunting, said Liu Bin, head of the Cultural Relics Bureau of Urad Middle Banner, on Friday.

The images are believed to have been engraved by the ancient tribal people known as the Tujue, and the Dangxiang, of which the modern day Qiang are descended from, about 1,000 to 1,500 years ago, said the archeologist.

The new findings are among many found across the Yinshan mountain range, and will greatly inform research into ancient nomadic people, he added.

Over 10,000 ancient cliff paintings have been discovered in the Yinshan Mountains.

In 2012, 18 cliff paintings dating back over 4,000 years were discovered in the same area. Among the paintings, seven faces were exaggerated and monstrous, and have been interpreted as the seven stars of the "Big Dipper" constellation. Endi