New discovery of rock art and megalithic sites in the central plain of China

Abstract

Since the turn of this century, an immense amount of rock art has been discovered in Henan Province (located in the Central Plains region of China), centred at Mt Juci. Over 90 percent of the rock art consists of cupules and the remainder comprises linear groove patterns, chessboard-like designs and other motifs. The rock art features mainly ground motifs and patterns chiselled by metal tools. There are a variety of cupules, varying in size, depth and arrangement, e.g. occurring in rows, concentric patterns and so on. Rock art was executed on over 10 000 boulders, some of which could be classified as megalithic sites, such as menhirs, dolmen, ‘stone altars’ and the like. The cupules and the megaliths from the Central Plains region appear to show a structural context, which will help us to understand and identify their cultural nature, contents and ages. Based on cross-dating, their production could be considered as spanning the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.

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