Archaeologists in China have discovered over 1,800 ancient cliff paintings dating back to thousands of years and scattered across 31 sites in the country's northeast Heilongjiang Province.
Discovered first in 2012, the paintings, which include images of humans and animals, are scattered across 31 sites and spread out over 167,000 square kilometres.
The paintings were painted by primitive hunters who inhabited Dahinggan Mountains at least thousands of years ago, Zhang Wei, director of the provincial institute of cultural relics and archaeology, was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency today.
The humans shown on the work are both alone and in groups, with some wearing feather headdresses.
The animals depicted include wolves, dogs, horses, boars, deer, tigers and birds, besides an s-shaped creature with four horns, which the researchers presumed may be a dragon.
It is believed the hunters drew the patterns with their bare hands by using mixed pigments in the warm season.
The findings will help in detailed study of the culture of early humans, researchers said.
