Yinshan Rock painting

Yinshan Rock painting

Yinshan rock paintings are carved on the rocks of Yinshan Mountains. They are widely distributed in Inner Mongolia. They are mainly concentrated in Wulat Middle Banner, Wulat rear banner, Dengkou county and other counties. Their themes involve animals, people, gods, utensils, celestial bodies and so on.

The artistic level of Yinshan Rock Painting is exquisite. Its carving methods include chiseling, grinding, line carving, etc. only a few rock painting relics in the world can match it.

Yinshan rock paintings are rich in themes, including animals, figures, bird patterns, human hunting, riding, grazing, dancing, fighting, wizard practices, as well as a large number of symbols and signs such as sun, moon, stars, round cave, etc. According to experts, the creation of rock paintings has gone through 10 stages: the late Paleolithic age, the Neolithic age, the bronze age, the Warring States period, the Qin and Han Dynasties, the northern and Southern Dynasties, the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Xixia period, the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties, and the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Historical evolution

As early as the 5th century, Yinshan Rock Paintings in Wulat Front Banner, Wulat rear banner, Wulat Middle Banner and Dengkou County of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region were discovered by Li Daoyuan, a geographer of the Northern Wei Dynasty. He made a detailed description in the famous annotation to the water classic: "the river flows through Shiya in the northeast and Shanxi, 500 Li to the north. On the rocks, there is a natural text, which looks like a tiger and a horse. It is like a picture, so it's also called painting the stone mountain."

According to the clues provided by shuijingzhu, archaeologists in Inner Mongolia have discovered nearly ten thousand pieces of rock paintings in Langshan area of Yinshan Mountain, which is about 300 km long from east to west and 40-70 km wide from south to north, starting from Alxa Left Banner in the west, Dengkou county and Chaoge banner in the middle, and Wulat Zhonghou banner in the East. These records are the earliest records of Yinshan Rock Paintings in the world. In the centuries that followed, however, no one went to ask.

It was not until the late 1930s that several rock paintings were discovered by the Sino Swiss northwest scientific expedition. The comprehensive investigation of rock paintings began in 1976. Since then, many experts, scholars and tourists have visited the territory of Ba Meng every year, and more than 10000 rock paintings have been found, including nearly 1000 rock paintings that have been photographed and copied. These rock paintings not only reflect the belief, aesthetics and world outlook of ancient residents in Yinshan area, but also reveal their nomadic life.

On May 25, 2006, Yinshan Rock Paintings, as Neolithic to Bronze Age stone carvings, were approved by the State Council to be listed in the Sixth Batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

In August 2016, thousands of Yinshan rock paintings were newly found in wulatzhong banner, which is of great significance to the study of the living habits and social features of ancient nomads in China. This group of rock paintings is located on several peaks of borihe mountain in the north of Wulan chulugacha, xinhuresumu, east of Wulate Middle Banner. The distribution area is about 2 km long. The contents are mainly animals, and there are also hunting pictures. Nearly 50 groups of pictures are found here. Each picture consists of several individual paintings, including North goat, argali sheep, camel, elk, tiger, wolf, etc. Most of these rock paintings are chiseled, with wide incisions, clumsy lines, clear pictures and good preservation. It is preliminarily estimated that they are the cultural relics of the ancient northern nomadic Turks and Dangxiang tribes in China.

Distribution range

Yinshan rock paintings are widely distributed, most of which are on the Heishan mountain of dilihari mountain in the south of Wulate Middle Banner, extending more than 5 kilometers from east to west. In this place alone, there are more than a thousand rock paintings. There are also a large number of rock paintings on the south slope and the top of the mountain not far north of the east of dilihari mountain, which are adjacent to the rock paintings of dilihari mountain and become a distribution area of rock paintings. In the north mountain of Wayaogou, about 8 kilometers south of the west of dilihari, there are more than 900 rock paintings every 2 to 10 meters or a little farther away. Secondly, on the black stone of beituolingou mountain in Dengkou County, there is a rock painting 2-3 meters away, with a distance of no more than 10 meters. The total number is more than 500.

The most intensive group of rock paintings is located on the north facing cliff of melehetugou. It is about 50 meters east-west and 20 meters high. It is composed of about 80 heads. The other is on a stone wall facing the West in the middle of Gehe Shangde Valley, about 5 meters wide and 15 meters high, composed of 50 individual paintings.

The largest area of rock art is the square rock art on the stone on the West Bank of dagoukou in Wulate Houqi, covering an area of about 400 square meters, which is listed as a key cultural relic under the protection of the autonomous region.

artistic characteristics

The artistic features of Yinshan rock paintings are simple, vivid and full of life atmosphere. Rock paintings are mostly based on realism, recording the social life of human childhood and various historical stages. The theme comes from nature and life, and reproduces the author's natural environment. In the aspects of conception, technique and expression, the author shows his keen observation, simple and healthy aesthetics and amazing artistic talent. Yinshan Rock Painting does not copy the nature intact. The author often gives imaginative processing to the images captured from life, simplifies the objects of expression to the extent that they can no longer be simplified, and tries to highlight the author's intention, thus making the works very vivid. Many of the moving objects have strong movements, such as long neighing, short whining, slow walking, or leaping. Some of them are angry with each other, and some of them are kissing each other. In order to emphasize something, the author uses exaggeration, contrast and foil techniques to highlight the center of the author's performance. For example, the pictures of the struggle between man and animals and between animals often highlight the image of the winner in composition and proportion, thus producing a strong artistic effect.

There are two main painting methods of Yinshan Rock Paintings: chiseling and grinding. The chiseling method is to use the metal or stone tools with higher hardness than the stone in the picture to strike into points and connect them into pictures. The rock paintings made by chiseling method have different depth and density. Grinding method is also called grinding method. The rock paintings made by this method have deep marks, smooth surface and "U" section. In addition, there is the method of carving, that is, using metal tools to carve. The scratches are thin and shallow, and most of these works are late works.

There are also pigment rock paintings in rock paintings, which are painted on rocks with lime, animal and vegetable oils. The number of such paintings is small, most of them are modern works, and they are related to Lamaism.

historical value

Yinshan Rock Art is the most widely distributed rock art in China, the most diverse content and the most exquisite art. It is not only the earliest rock art found in the world, but also one of the most abundant rock art in the world. It is the largest treasure house of rock art in China. The vast majority of existing Yinshan Rock Art is distributed in Bashi area, with the largest area of 400 square meters This paper records the production and life history of the ancient northern Xiongnu, Chile, Rouran, Xianbei, Mongolia and other nomadic people living here. Five tigers is the representative work of Yinshan Rock Painting.

The time span of Yinshan Rock Painting is more than one thousand years. The upper limit of Yinshan Rock Painting is not later than the early Neolithic age, and the lower limit is up to modern times. Yinshan Rock Painting is created by different times and different nationalities. It is like a historical Grand View Garden of northern nomads, which directly reflects or reflects people's life at that time from multiple angles and sides. Its discovery provides detailed and accurate materials for the study of people's religious outlook, aesthetic outlook, way of thinking and way of life at that time, and opens up new fields for prehistoric history, art history, folklore, anthropology, aesthetics and other disciplines.

development history

Yinshan rock paintings can be divided into four periods and five periods

The first generation of rock paintings are from the late Paleolithic to the Middle Bronze Age. This is the heyday of rock art, with a large number, wide distribution and serious production.

The second generation of rock paintings are from the spring and Autumn period to the Han Dynasty.

The third generation of rock art is medieval rock art. This generation of rock paintings can be divided into two periods: the Northern Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty Turk rock paintings and the Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty Uighur, Dangxiang rock paintings. The number of Turkic rock paintings is small, and the content is mainly livestock, in which goats occupy a prominent position. The technique of expression has the characteristics of abstraction and iconography; the prominent feature of Uighur rock paintings is that they are carved with iron blade, the lines are thin and shallow, the themes are mostly imitative of previous works, and there are a few plant patterns and Uighur characters. Most of Dangxiang people's rock paintings are chiseled. They are rough in workmanship but fresh in color. Most of them are like new ones, accompanied by Xixia Characters. Its artistic feature is strong image.

The fourth generation of rock art is the work of Mongolian people after Yuan Dynasty, which is called modern rock art. There are two kinds of rock paintings: chiseling and pigment. Pigment rock paintings are unique to the Mongolian people. Apart from reflecting life and production (such as galloping horse, Bactrian camel, herdsman, etc.), most of the rock paintings are related to Lamaism.

Main types

Animal image

Animals are closely related to the nomadic people who are in the era of hunting or grazing. They are the main source of food for nomads, and their skins are used for sewing clothes. Therefore, in rock paintings, animal images account for the largest proportion. Among them, there are horses, cattle, goats, giraffes, special deer, roe deer, Hunda, fox, camel, tortoise, dog, eagle and other birds and animals. For the depiction of these animals, most of them adopt realistic techniques, which are generally very vivid and vivid, and many of them even achieve the perfect combination of realism and art. In the rear banner of Ulat, we found a picture of tigers, which is a wonderful work. Nine tigers are vividly portrayed and structurally arranged

Chinese PinYin : Yin Shan Yan Hua