The Keshiketeng Rock Art Complex

The Keshiketeng Rock Art Complex

The Keshiketeng Rock Art Complex is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Keshiketeng Rock Art Complex is a category of petroglyphs, consisting of four parts: the rock art of the Baicha River Basin, the Zhenshan Mountain Rock Art, the rock art of the Xilamulun River Basin, and the Weitang River Rock Art. It includes a total of 23 sites, 90 groups, and over 400 individual images. The earliest dates back to the Neolithic Age, spanning more than 6,000 years. The content includes totem worship, shamanism, fertility worship, rituals, dancing, hunting, and herding. The images vary in size, with primitive compositions, vivid depictions, bold and powerful human figures, and lifelike animals, recreating historical scenes of human production and life, religious beliefs, ideologies, and environmental changes in the Keshiketeng region across different historical periods. In May 1996, the rock art complexes of the Baicha River, Zhenshan Mountain, Weitang River, and Xilamulun River in Keshiketeng Banner were designated as Autonomous Region-level Key Cultural Relics Protection Units by the People's Government of the Autonomous Region. In May 2009, the Keshiketeng Rock Art Complex was successfully elevated to a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit after being nominated by the Autonomous Region, confirmed by the National Cultural Heritage Administration, and approved by the State Council.

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units