The earliest cliff carvings in Damaidi in Zhongwei County of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region can be traced back 20,000 to 30,000 years, the late Paleolithic age, a Chinese archaeologist said.

Zhou Xinghua, former curator of Ningxia Museum, said the conclusion was reached by analyzing the content, style, technique, color and preservation status of the cliff carvings, and by comparing them with other excavated relics.

Archaeologists also found that a prehistoric "Venus" carving on the cliff, a stone-carved figure of a nude woman, dates from the late Paleolithic period. Similar carvings have been discovered in Greece and Austria.

In the past decade, archeologists have found numerous cliff carvings in Zhongwei County, with more than 1,000 paintings concentrated in an area of 15 square km. Zhou said the density of figures carved in the area was rarely seen elsewhere.
 
(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2004)