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4,220-year-old rock art in SW China’s Yunnan reveals early cultural links with Southeast Asia_我的网站

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    Timeline of the major painted rock art groups in Southwest China: A-A′: Jinsha River rock art; B-B′: Mangguan-Cangyuan rock art; C-C′: Zuojiang rock art Photos: Xinhua
Chinese researchers have obtained the first absolute dates for rock paintings at the Mangguan rock art site in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, pushing the known history of rock art created by prehistoric settled communities in the region back to about 4,220 years ago. The paintings also suggest cultural interactions more than 4,000 years ago between Southwest China and civilizations along the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, as well as possible exchanges with neighboring parts of Southeast Asia, including present-day Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, a member of the research team told the Global Times. 
The Yunnan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, in collaboration with Nanjing Normal University and other institutions, have recently made a significant archaeological breakthrough. Through systematic surveys and uranium-thorium (U-Th) dating at the Mangguan site in Gengma county, the research team obtained the first absolute dates for the site's rock paintings, tracing rock art created by prehistoric settled communities back to around 4,220 years ago.
The findings were recently published in the international journal Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.
The Mangguan rock paintings represent one of the best-preserved prehistoric rock art sites in Yunnan. The research team presented high precision U Th dating of carbonate accretions that stratigraphically overlie the painted motifs at the Mangguan site, according to the paper published in the journal.
The dating results show that carbonate deposits overlying a human figure yielded a corrected age of 4,240 ± 19 years before present, confirming that ancient people living in the region had already produced mature figurative art at least 4,220 years ago, Wu Yun, first author of the paper and an associate researcher at the Yunnan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, was cited by the Xinhua News Agency report as saying.
Dating results from 11 samples taken from different motifs clustered between about 3,907 and 3,056 years ago. By comparison, the Cangyuan cliff paintings had previously been dated to roughly 3,800 to 2,700 years ago. The Mangguan paintings are therefore significantly older, filling an important chronological gap in the region's artistic record before the Cangyuan phase.
Shao Qingfeng, corresponding author of the paper and a professor at the School of Geography at Nanjing Normal University, told the Global Times that previous estimates dated the Mangguan rock paintings to a little over 3,000 years ago based mainly on imagery and comparisons with similar regional sites. Using microsamples of secondary carbonate deposits overlying the paintings, researchers have now obtained a precise minimum age of about 4,220 years before present without damaging the rock art.
The findings and the establishment of this chronological framework not only strengthen the archaeological foundation for studying rock art in Southwest China, but also provide a direct reference for rock art sites across Southeast Asia that have yet to undergo systematic dating, Shao said. 
The findings may also challenge long-held perceptions of Southwest China around 4,200 years ago - roughly the era of the Xia Dynasty (c.2070 BC-C.1600 BC) - and help fill a key gap in understanding the pluralistic yet integrated development of Chinese civilization. 
Shao said that while academic research has traditionally focused on the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins as cradles of early Chinese civilization, sites such as Mangguan and Cangyuan show that stable and culturally active communities also thrived in mountainous Southwest China. The newly established rock-art chronology brings an artistic dimension to the broader narrative of China's enduring cultural development. 
Moreover, stylistic similarities suggest that Southwest China maintained exchanges with the Yellow River and Yangtze River regions and with early societies in Southeast Asia, providing material evidence of cross-regional interaction more than 4,000 years ago.
。    Islamabad, Oct 9 (UNI) A fire broke out in the food court of a popular shopping mall in Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Sunday, media reports said.

The fire has been brought under control and the cooling process has been initiated after videos on social media platforms showed smoke emitting out of the building, according to Geo news.

In a statement, Islamabad Police said that people were rescued and safely evacuated from the backdoor of the mall — which was engulfed in smoke after the fire.

The search operation is still underway, and no person or shop has been harmed, the police said, adding that the fire inside the mall has been doused out and a helicopter has also been called in.

"However, the fire has not been completely extinguished on the outside of the mall," the police said, requesting the citizens to avoid travelling near the mall to ensure that rescue teams could do their work uninterrupted.

To oversee the situation, Inspector-General Islamabad Dr Akbar Nasir Khan, senior police officials, and district administration representatives reached the mall, located in F-8.

Chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA) capt (retd) Mohammed Usman Younas is also at the site and overseeing rescue and firefighting operations.

All resources are being utilised to control the fire as early as possible, the CDA added.

The Islamabad Police later said that the building, under the orders of the deputy commissioner, would be sealed once the rescue operation was completed.

It added that the mall's building would remain sealed until a probe into the matter has been carried out. Until then, entry into the building would remain prohibited to the public.

In a separate statement, the police said that due to the fire, diversions have been placed for traffic from F-8 Exchange Chowk to Khyaban Chowk at Jinnah Avenue.

In his tweet, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that he was saddened by the incident and directed all authorities to ensure that the situation was brought under control at the earliest.

Taking notice of the incident, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah asked authorities to use everything at their disposal to ensure that the situation is under control.

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz prayed for the situation to get better.

UNI GNK。

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