The term rock painting refers to coloured paintings, line engravings and embossed art created inside rock caves and on cliff walls and isolated rock bodies. It is regarded as a distinctive type of stone carving with unsophisticated and natural methods and stone tools used by ancient humans to record their modes of production, living, desires and imagination during the early development of human society. Rock paintings are widespread on all continents and more than 150 countries around the world, but the most abundant paintings have been discovered in Europe, Africa, and India and China in Asia. The rock paintings in China can be divided into northern and southern paintings. The northern paintings are mostly engravings, while the southern paintings were generally painted with red paints made of haematite powder mixed with ox blood. Rock painting is a cultural phenomenon of early human society, and the images in rock paintings constitute an early literature record of ancient humans...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
(2020). Rock Painting. In: Chen, A., Ng, Y., Zhang, E., Tian, M. (eds) Dictionary of Geotourism. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2538-0_2103
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2538-0_2103
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-2537-3
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-2538-0
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences