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Uranium-series age estimates for rock art in southwest China |
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| Authors: | Paul SC Taçon Maxime Aubert Darren Curnoe |
| Institution: | a PERAHU, School of Humanities, Gold Coast campus, Griffith University, Queensland 4222, Australia b School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong 2522, Australia c Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Cultural Relics Administration Office, Zhongdian, Yunnan, China d Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, 15-1, Chunmingli, Chunyuanxiaoqu, Kunming, Yunnan 650118, China e Yunnan Institute of Geography, Yunnan University, No. 20 Xue Fu Road, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China f Research School of Humanities and Arts, Australian National University, Canberra 0200, Australia g Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra 0200, Australia h History Department, Yunnan University, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China i School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia j Archaeology Program, School of Historical and European Studies, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia |
| Abstract: | We report the first uranium-series age estimates for rock art in China. Calcite bracketing a paint layer was used to constrain the age of a naturalistic outline hunter-gatherer painting in the Jinsha River area of northwest Yunnan Province (southwest China). The rock paintings in this region are unique in style and content compared with other bodies of rock art in China, which are dominated by Neolithic subject matter. The minimum and maximum ages were determined using isochron techniques on multiple samples of calcite from above and beneath the paint layer. A large painted deer head was dated to between 5738 and 2050 years. This painting and underlying flowstone are superimposed on older paintings that suggest the older paintings are at least 3400 years old, if not older than 5738 years. The results indicate for the first time that Jinsha River rock art is older than other forms of rock art in the region and show that rock art likely extends back to at least the transition from the Palaeolithic to Neolithic in this part of China. |
| Keywords: | China Rock art Dating U-series Radiocarbon Jinsha River |
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