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4,220-year-old rock art in SW China’s Yunnan reveals early cultural links with Southeast Asia_我的网站

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A | 本报讯 5月30—31日，省文旅厅党组书记、厅长刘伟才到东戴河新区调研。县委书记刘晓军，县委副书记、县长、东戴河新区党工委书记韩景生等县和东戴河新区领导陪同。

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Timeline of the major painted rock art groups in Southwest China: A-A′: Jinsha River rock art; B-B′: Mangguan-Cangyuan rock art; C-C′: Zuojiang rock art Photos: Xinhua
Chinese researchers have obtained the first absolute dates for rock paintings at the Mangguan rock art site in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, pushing the known history of rock art created by prehistoric settled communities in the region back to about 4,220 years ago. The paintings also suggest cultural interactions more than 4,000 years ago between Southwest China and civilizations along the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, as well as possible exchanges with neighboring parts of Southeast Asia, including present-day Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, a member of the research team told the Global Times.
The Yunnan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, in collaboration with Nanjing Normal University and other institutions, have recently made a significant archaeological breakthrough. Through systematic surveys and uranium-thorium (U-Th) dating at the Mangguan site in Gengma county, the research team obtained the first absolute dates for the site's rock paintings, tracing rock art created by prehistoric settled communities back to around 4,220 years ago.
The findings were recently published in the international journal Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.
The Mangguan rock paintings represent one of the best-preserved prehistoric rock art sites in Yunnan. The research team presented high precision U Th dating of carbonate accretions that stratigraphically overlie the painted motifs at the Mangguan site, according to the paper published in the journal.
The dating results show that carbonate deposits overlying a human figure yielded a corrected age of 4,240 ± 19 years before present, confirming that ancient people living in the region had already produced mature figurative art at least 4,220 years ago, Wu Yun, first author of the paper and an associate researcher at the Yunnan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, was cited by the Xinhua News Agency report as saying.
Dating results from 11 samples taken from different motifs clustered between about 3,907 and 3,056 years ago. By comparison, the Cangyuan cliff paintings had previously been dated to roughly 3,800 to 2,700 years ago. The Mangguan paintings are therefore significantly older, filling an important chronological gap in the region's artistic record before the Cangyuan phase.
Shao Qingfeng, corresponding author of the paper and a professor at the School of Geography at Nanjing Normal University, told the Global Times that previous estimates dated the Mangguan rock paintings to a little over 3,000 years ago based mainly on imagery and comparisons with similar regional sites. Using microsamples of secondary carbonate deposits overlying the paintings, researchers have now obtained a precise minimum age of about 4,220 years before present without damaging the rock art.
The findings and the establishment of this chronological framework not only strengthen the archaeological foundation for studying rock art in Southwest China, but also provide a direct reference for rock art sites across Southeast Asia that have yet to undergo systematic dating, Shao said.
The findings may also challenge long-held perceptions of Southwest China around 4,200 years ago - roughly the era of the Xia Dynasty (c.2070 BC-C.1600 BC) - and help fill a key gap in understanding the pluralistic yet integrated development of Chinese civilization.
Shao said that while academic research has traditionally focused on the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins as cradles of early Chinese civilization, sites such as Mangguan and Cangyuan show that stable and culturally active communities also thrived in mountainous Southwest China. The newly established rock-art chronology brings an artistic dimension to the broader narrative of China's enduring cultural development.
Moreover, stylistic similarities suggest that Southwest China maintained exchanges with the Yellow River and Yangtze River regions and with early societies in Southeast Asia, providing material evidence of cross-regional interaction more than 4,000 years ago.
。　　刘伟才一行先后来到璟点集团、东戴河新区旅游服务中心、辽宁伊菲科技股份有限公司、富利铜业绥中有限公司和李家堡乡，通过实地参观、听取汇报等方式，详细了解企业运营、发展建设情况和东戴河新区文旅产业布局、项目进展等情况。　　调研中，刘伟才对东戴河新区文旅产业和企业发展取得的成绩给予充分肯定。他说，东戴河新区区位优势明显，基础设施完备，应进一步挖掘绥中县文化符号、特色资源、优势产业，激活赛事经济，做好示范地定位，打造文体旅融合样板。在服务上要精细化发展，尤其是做好自驾游、老人、研学等特殊群体的专项服务，做优做强旅游服务品牌，在文创上加快创新，推动绥中县文体旅产业提质升级。　　在李家堡乡新台子村，刘伟才说，要充分认识保护利用好传统村落对于推动文旅融合发展的重大意义，深入挖掘古村落的历史文化价值。相关部门要积极沟通，切实加强保护，吸取好的经验做法，与九门口风景区整体风貌相协调，不断提升古村落的吸引力，实现价值提升，进一步推动绥中县文旅产业高质量发展。