Summary
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the author
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Table of Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- Introduction
- I Discovery and Research
- Section I Object and Area of Study
- I. Object of study
- II. Area of study
- Section II Discovery and Research
- I. Discovery of Yinshan Rock Engravings
- II. History of Study
- Section III Purpose and Significance of Topic
- II Zoning and Classification
- Section I Low Hilly Area in the Northern Part of Daqing Mountain
- I. Eastern Section
- II. Middle Section
- III. Western Section
- Section II Seerteng Mountain
- I. Eastern Section
- II. Middle Section
- III. Western Section
- Section III Langshan Mountain
- I. Eastern Section
- II. Middle Section
- III Western Section
- III Regional Distribution Characteristics and Evolution of Main Types
- Section I Regional Distribution Characteristics of Yinshan Rock Engravings and the Industry Modes revealed in these Engravings
- I. Low Hilly Area in the Northern Part of Daqing Mountain
- II. Seerteng Mountain
- III. Langshan Mountain
- Section II Evolution of Main Types
- I. Distribution Characteristics of Main Types
- II. Evolution of Main Types
- IV Special Studies
- Section I Human Face Rock Art
- I. Typological Analysis of Human Face Rock Art
- II. Discussion on the Age of Human Face Rock Art
- Section II Symbol Rock Art
- I. Typological Analysis of Symbol Rock Art
- II. Discussion on the Age of Symbol Rock Art
- Section III Figure Rock Art
- I. Typological Analysis of Figure Rock Art
- II. Discussion on the Age of Figure Rock Art
- Section IV Vehicle Rock Art
- I. Typological Analysis of Vehicle Rock Art
- II. Discussion on the Age of Vehicle Rock Art
- Section V Hunting Rock Art
- I. Typological Analysis of Hunting Rock Art
- II. Discussion on the Age of Hunting Rock Art
- Section VI Animal Rock Art
- I. Typological Analysis of Some Animal Rock Art
- II. Discussion on the Age of Animal Rock Art
- Section VII Summary
- V Comparison with the Rock Art in Other Areas of China
- Section I Three Major Distribution Areas of Chinese Rock Art
- I. Northern rock Art
- II. Southwest rock Art
- III. Southeast rock Art
- Section II Comparison of Three Major Rock Art Areas and the Status of Yinshan Rock Art
- I. Distribution Characteristics and Comparison of Three Major Rock Art Areas
- II. Comparison of Yinshan Rock Art with Those in Other Areas
- VI Conclusion
- Postscript
- Appendix
- Bibliography
Introduction
Rock art refers to the images and symbols painted or carved on cave walls or open-air rocks by ancient people. They are generally carved by ancient people using stone, metal tools or mineral pigment. That is to say, there are two different forms of rock art; one is the image carved or ground on the rock surface and the other is the picture depicted on the stone wall or cliff. They can be called rock art.
In China, “rock art” is a general term for two making techniques—carving or painting. In fact, China didn’t have a unified name for these images in the past, but they were given different titles because of different making techniques and personal understanding. For example, they were called “Rock art,” “rock inscriptions,” “cliff carvings” and so on because they were made by carving; some of them were actually “paintings,” thus they were called “cliff paintings,” “rock paintings” and so on. In Western countries, a strict distinction is made for rock art. Chiseled pictures are called “petroglyphs or Rock art” and painted pictures are called “pictographs or rock paintings.” It seems that this distinction will make the meaning of rock art clearer. However, the Chinese academic circles have generally accepted the title of “rock art,” so the word “rock art” has basically become a general designation of various images and symbols made by different techniques.
Rock art are a global phenomenon. Since the discovery of rock art in northern Europe in the 17th century, a large number of rock art has been discovered in five continents. At present, more than 120 countries around the world have discovered rock art. For example, in Asia, there are China, South Korea, Japan and Mongolia in Northeast Asia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia, India and Pakistan in South Asia, Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia in West Asia, etc. In Europe, there are Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, Finland, Russia and other countries. In Africa, there are Angola, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe in South Africa, Egypt and Algeria in North Africa, etc. In the Americas, there are Canada, the United States, Mexico, Argentina, etc. In Oceania, there are Australia, New Zealand, etc. At present, there were more than 50 million rock art recorded around the world,1 and their creation lasted from nearly 40,000 years ago to modern times.2
However, Chinese rock art have not been known by international rock engraving scholars. A “World Map of Rock art” published in 1983 in the U.S. magazine Journal of Archaeological Science had no information about the distribution of rock art in China. In 1984, the 21st issue of the Bulletin of the Camuno Center of Prehistoric Studies published an article by Anati, Overview of World Rock Art Research—A Report to UNESCO, wherein the Chinese part remained unmentioned.3
In fact, China was the first country in the world to discover and record rock art.4 In ancient literature, records of rock art were first found in Han Feizi in the 3rd century BC. According to External Stories Part XXXII of Han Feizi Vol. XII, “The king of Zhao asked the craftsman to climb the ladder to Bowu Mountain, carved a footprint five chi long and three chi wide, and wrote ‘The King of Zhao was here’.” That is to say, there were rock art about footprints in the Warring States Period. Since then, rock art have also been recorded in Sima Qian’s Shiji of the Western Han Dynasty and geographer Li Daoyuan’s Commentary on the Waterways Classic of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
Although the discovery and record of rock art in China are far earlier than those in the world, the real investigation and study of rock art began only in modern times. The study on Chinese rock art started late, which can be roughly divided into the following stages:
(1) Stage I: Preliminary field investigation and study of rock art (1920s–1940s)
The real field investigation of Chinese rock art began with Mr. Huang Zhongqin’s investigation of Xianzitan rock art in Taixi, Huaan, Fujian in 1915. In 1935, Huang Zhongqin published a research article on rock art, Taixi Ancient Prose,5 which marked the beginning of Chinese rock engraving research.
Details
- Pages
- XII, 868
- Publication Year
- 2023
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9781433169458
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9781433169465
- ISBN (MOBI)
- 9781433169472
- ISBN (Hardcover)
- 9781433168857
- DOI
- 10.3726/b15636
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2023 (June)
- Keywords
- Yinshan rock art ancient culture cultural relics
- Published
- New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Oxford, Wien, 2023. XII, 868 pp., 13 b/w ill., 19 tables.
