Cave Painted Rock Art in Fuyun County

Cave Painted Rock Art in Fuyun County

Six counties and cities in Xinjiang have discovered cave painted rock art. Three are located in Fuyun County on the Altai Mountains — at Tangbaletas, Akesitas, and Jiaxihalahai — two in Hoboksar Mongolian Autonomous County at Du'ate and Songhargou, one in Tekes County in the Tianshan Mountains at Heiketas, one in Kashgar at the eastern foot of the Pamir Plateau, and another in Arxiwengkuer at the northern foot of the Kunlun Mountains in Pishan County.

These cave rock paintings are all colored, predominantly in a reddish hue with small amounts of white and black. They prominently feature the worship of female fertility and characteristics of early hunting societies, making them extremely valuable visual records of matriarchal tribal society — a phenomenon not yet found in other provinces or regions across China.

Judging from the content of the rock art and the characteristics of the coloring, these works are likely to be artifacts from the late Paleolithic to the early Neolithic period, dating back at least 10,000 years.