The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is home to famous plateau lakes, glaciers, and rivers such as Qinghai Lake, Selin Co and Nam Co. They are not only the focus of plateau ecological protection, but also the cradle of the ancient civilization of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
On the 100th anniversary of the birth of Chinese archaeology, in August this year, a team of experts who have long been engaged in archaeological research on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and reporters from the central station formed the “Nam Co Lake Scientific Research Team” to conduct the first survey of the Nam Co Lake Area, the second largest lake in Tibet, and northern Tibet. The ancient rock paintings, ancient ruins, ancient tombs and geological environment of the plateau are comprehensively investigated from the perspective of “four in one”, including the first scientific dating of Tibetan rock paintings.
At present, what are the new gains and discoveries of scientific investigations?
Open the treasure house of prehistoric art in the northern Tibet Plateau
Located between Damxung County in Lhasa City and Bangor County in Nagqu City, Nam Co has an altitude of 4730 meters and an area of 2020 square kilometers. On the south bank of the lake stands the Nyainqentanglha Mountain, the main peak is 7162 meters high. Nam Co means “Tianhu” in Tibetan. It is not only a famous world-class tourist destination, but also an important area for the second Qinghai-Tibet scientific expedition.
The scientific expedition team around the lake is composed of experts from Hebei Normal University, Sichuan University, Northwest University, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Cultural Relic Conservation of Tibet Autonomous Region, Tibet University, Lanzhou University of Finance and Economics.
Beginning on August 5 this year, the scientific expedition team conducted a comprehensive and systematic survey of cave petroglyphs in Nam Co and the surrounding lake basin geographic area and rock carvings in the wilderness of northern Tibet. A number of evidences show the rich historical information of the exchanges and exchanges between the nomads of the northern Tibetan Plateau and other ethnic groups, which is helpful for the preservation of Tibetan cultural relics and the study of cultural heritage.
Tang Huisheng, Professor of the Department of Archaeology, School of History and Culture, Hebei Normal University, Director of the International Rock Painting Dating Center: We have newly discovered many character styles in rock paintings this time, not only the early Tibetan styles, but also the inscriptions of Chinese characters, indicating that Nam Co Lake was an important passage of the ancient Silk Road, integrating the styles of different cultures.
Experts have also discovered many ancient remains of stone tools, stone tombs, sacrificial relics and other ancient remains in northern Tibet. This is of great significance for understanding the early nomadic culture of the Qiangtang grassland in northern Tibet. The first scientific expedition around the lake introduced the latest natural science results of the second Qinghai-Tibet expedition in the field of humanities, and promoted the in-depth development of research on the plateau lake areas such as Nam Co, Selin Co, and Dangra Yong Co.
Wang Junbo, director of the Lhasa Department of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences: By studying the environmental changes in Nam Co, we restore the history and laws of its paleo-climatic changes, which has some reference value for our research on the human ecology and the history of human settlement in Nam Co.
The first full investigation of rock paintings on Tashi Island in Nam Co
Nam Co is the second largest lake in Tibet. Tashi Island is a famous tourist destination with many exquisite cave rock paintings. The scientific investigation around the lake recorded 53 petroglyph sites and newly discovered a variety of different cultural factors. So how did the investigation of rock paintings on Tashi Island proceed, and how did the first scientific dating of rock paintings in Tibet proceed?
Headquarters reporter Chen Qin: Seen from the sky, Tashi Island is like a black-necked crane with wings spread out. Its area is about 10 square kilometers. There are large tracts of limestone here, and there are petroglyphs in the limestone caves.
Tashi Island is divided into east and west regions. The unique karst landforms, including caves, peaks, and stone pillars, are very magnificent, with 53 petroglyphs distributed in between.
For the key rock faces, the scientific expedition team members also used 3D modeling software for digital collection. Rock paintings are pictures, symbols, etc. made on the surface of rocks by ancient people, which can be divided into carved rock paintings or painted rock paintings. It is the communication tool and spiritual expression of ancient ancestors, “records the earliest evidence of human imagination and artistic creation”, and is a precious cultural heritage. The painted rock paintings of the caves on Tashi Island are mainly drawn with ochre red mineral pigments, with a small amount of black pigments. The techniques are divided into line drawing and flat painting. The content includes hunting, grazing, sacrifices, gladiatorial fights, celestial burials, god worship, etc., which are very rich.
Li Yongxian, Vice President of the Chinese Rock Painting Society, Professor of the Institute of Tibetan Studies of Sichuan University: It is 65 cm high and 48 cm wide, which is the largest in Tibet.
According to the survey, this painted human face is the largest rock painting of human face in Tibet. The eyes are slender and straight, and the nose is triangular, which is different from the human faces of northern grassland culture such as Helan Mountain in Ningxia and Yin Mountain in Inner Mongolia.
Zhang Jianlin, Vice President of the Chinese Rock Painting Society, Distinguished Professor of the School of Cultural Heritage, Northwest University: Most of the portraits of Helan Mountain are chiseled, which are painted, with our own style of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Experts believe that the shape of this human face is similar to the many golden masks unearthed in Zanda County, Ngari Prefecture, western Tibet. The latter is about 1800 years ago, so whether the painted human faces on Tashi Island are so old? It still needs scientific dating data. This is exactly the difference between this rock painting survey and previous studies.
Since the 1990s, Chinese and foreign scholars have conducted surveys on the rock paintings of Tashi Island, but dating data has been lacking in dating. The 20-day Namtso Lake Rim Lake expedition used the physics international rock art dating technology for the first time, including three methods: uranium dating, carbon 14 dating and micro-corrosion dating. The scientific expedition team collected 14 samples on Tashi Island, of which 13 were used for uranium dating and 1 was used for carbon-14 dating.
Rob Tashi, director of the Archaeological Research Office of the Tibet Autonomous Region Cultural Relics Protection Institute: After this kind of multidisciplinary intervention, it will be the first to make a new breakthrough in this dating data. For Tibetan rock art, it is both a breakthrough and an attempt.
(Headquarters reporter Chen Qin Duoji Renqingyi Xibian Baraba Tsering Yangchao)
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