Conservation of Ancient Sites on the Silk Road
PA R T S E V E N Methods and Treatment PROOF 1 2 3 4 5 6 310 PROOF 1 2 3 4 5 6 Types of Weathering of the Huashan Rock Paintings Guo Hong, Han Rubin, Huang Huaiwu, Lan Riyong, and Xie Riwan Abstract: The Huashan rock art in China’s Guangxi Zhuang farming god, phallus, war and victory, sacrifice, and totem Autonomous Region dates from 2400–1600 b.p., though some (Bao Chang 1981). They are therefore important for our have been dated to as early as 16,000 b.p. Approximately sev- understanding of the cultural life of the ancient popula- enty sites are known, of which Huashan is the most spectacu- tions in the Zuo River valley. Existing stylistic studies and lar. The rock is limestone, and the rate of dissolution by water carbon-14 dates place the Huashan rock paintings within a is in excess of 8 millimeters per 100 years. New threats to time frame of 2400 to 1600 b.p., which coincides with the the art have emerged in recent times: pollution and tourism. Warring States period and the Qin and Han dynasties in While the red ocher pigment of the art is stable and resistant northern China (Yuan Sixun, Chen Tiemei, and Hu Yanqui to weathering, it is the limestone substrate that is vulnerable. 1986; Tan Shengmin 1987: 127–45). Historical records tell us This paper describes the physical, chemical, and biological that the Zuo River valley was inhabited by the Luo Yue eth- deterioration affecting the art. nic group during this time frame; hence the Huashan rock paintings may have been created by them (Wang Kerong, Qiu Zhonglun, and Chen Yuanzhang 1988: 202–8).
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