Research On Rock Paintings Of Human Faces In The Xiliao River Basin

Being wide in distribution and large in quantity,Chinese rock art has become an essential part of world rock art.The rock art of human face in the West Liaohe Basin constitutes an important part of Chinese rock art,and it is the most mystery-embodied and attractive in prehistoric culture.However,because research of the rock art in this area is still in the data collection phase with limited and fragmented rock art and the data is not systematically organized,the rock art has not really steeped into research stage.The author had the honor to conduct two systematic on-site investigation of rock art in West Liaohe Basin with Chinese Rock Art Research Center during 2011 to 2012.Therefore,I got relatively detailed and comprehensive rock art material,which is obtained at first hand,and I am especially interested in the rock art of human faces.Based on such a favorable premise,this paper is trying to make an in-depth study of the rock art of human faces in the region.The prerequisites of the study in the paper is to hackle the research background of human face rock art and background materials of West Liaohe Basin and to reorganize the visual data of human face rock art in West Liaohe Basin.The two gyniatrics of the paper is the image classification and cohort speculation,and the image analysis and connotation discussion.The paper will conduct a comparative analysis between human face rock art and the prehistoric jade by means of iconography and explore the origin of merchant black bird totem through iconography,which would lead a reasonable speculation and interpretation of the theory that Chinese rock art of human face may originate from West Liaohe Basin.In this paper,data concerning the rock art of human face in West Liaohe Basin is collected and systematically studied,and the rock art of human face in West Liaohe Basin,as the biopsy samples of three distribution zones of Chinese human face rock art,is analyzed comprehensively based on the theory and means of iconography and archaeology and others.This paper is divided into five chapters.The preamble and the first two chapters present the literature review of human face rock art and the rock art in West Liaohe Basin on the vertical axis of time as well as the basic outlook of West Liaohe Basin in different archaeological and cultural periods;and this part will sort out the image data of human face rock art in various rock art bits in West Liaohe Basin on space plane.Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 will focus on trying to speculate the archaeological era of human face rock art in West Liaohe Basin and the analysis of its cultural connotation.In order to achieve these two research objectives,the image classification,production techniques,distribution and basic characteristics of the various types of human face rock art in West Liaohe Basin will be explored and deciphered in a new perspective.Chapter 5 will find out reliable archaeological evidence based on the previous discussion,combined with the iconographic comparative analysis between the rock art of human face in West Liaohe Basin and prehistoric artifacts,especially the typical ornamentation of prehistoric jade.This part will also discuss the degree of dissemination and quantity of jade owl and turquoise owl unearthed from the West Liaohe Basin rock art of owl face and West Liaohe Basin Hongshan Cultural Sites to connect and explore the relationship between merchant black bird totem and the owl face rock art in West Liaohe Basin,and to understand the possibility that rock art of human face in West Liaohe Basin may be the origin of Chinese human face rock art.