The XiXia script has to date between the early 11th century and 1227, when Genghis Khan’s army took vengeance on those duplicitous Tanguts. The script looks pretty fresh, and it serves as a base to guess how old some of the other rock carvings are.

This particular valley was a favorite carving place for thousands of years. I’m guessing one reason is the rocks in the riverbed because there are beautiful shades of purple and red. Also, the dry rocks
change color as you approach them, shifting from white to purple. Splotches of color suddenly materialize before you every few steps.

Not to mention that the scenery is great.

There are countless rock carvings along the eastern side of the Helanshan range; villagers at various places can point the way to a pile of boulders bearing images of deer and goats.

There were hundreds of carvings. The photos are sort of a sampling of various ages and styles. In some cases, the petroglyph experts picked a way at the rock to reveal images that would generally not be visible to the untrained eye.