新石器早期岩画判定方法的几点认识

Views on How to Determine the Creation Time of Early Neolithic Petroglyphs

岩画断代是目前世界一大难题。笔者通过梳理已知的岩画断代方法,结合10几年的岩画踏查,认为判断中国北方新石器早期岩画的年代可以采取以下方法:第一,新石器早期岩画与旧石器晚期遗址相伴生,通过选择与新石器早期岩画伴生的遗址进行断代;第二,新石器早期岩画形制,简单的过于夸张,复杂的贴近写实,因此可以通过岩画的形制特征进行判断;第三,新石器早期岩刻画痕与岩石的色泽基本一致,从画痕与岩石的色泽方面也可以进行初步判断;第四,实验证明,新石器早期岩画的制作方法有研磨和磨制两种,可以通过还原岩画制作方法的办法予以断代;第五,考古类比学的方法可以准确判断部分岩画的时代。

How to determine a petroglyph＇s time of creation is a big problem throughout the world. Sifting through existing methods for determining the creation time of petroglyphs, and based on my exami- nation of petroglyphs for more than a decade, I come to the conclusion that the following approaches can be adopted to identify petroglyphs made in the early part of the Neolithic period in northern China. First, early Neolithic petroglyphs tend to co-exist with sites of late Paleolithic pictographs. Therefore we can match early Neolithic petroglyphs against late Paleolithic ones, using the latter as a reference point. Second, early Neolithic petroglyphs show peculiar forms. The simple ones have over-exaggerated contours whereas the more sophisticated ones are quasi-realistic. So the forms also serve as a factor for reference. Third, lines of early Neolithic petroglyphs carved into the rock show colors similar to the rock itself. So the color of the lines and the rock also function as an additional identifying factor. Fourth, experiments prove that early Neolithic petroglyphs were made in two ways： cutting and grinding, so we can decide the approximate time of pictograph creation by tracing the creation methods. Fifth, methods adopted in analogical archeology can also help pinning down the precise time of some petroglyphs.