More ancient stone carvings discovered in Mu Cang Chai

There are also differences in the arrangement of the motifs on the stone.

The newly discovered ancient stone carving is located in the protective forest, in Hang Chua Say village, Che Cu Nha commune (Mu Cang Chai district, Yen Bai province), about 4 km east of the commune People's Committee headquarters as the crow flies.

The location of the ancient carved stone block also has many large sandstone blocks from 1 to 20 cubic meters, located from 7 to 80 meters apart. The newly discovered ancient carved stone block is more than 2 meters long and about 2 meters wide; has a slightly convex flat surface, and the surface is covered with carvings of various shapes: concave circles (7 shapes), concave diamonds (1 shape), large concentric convex circles (1 shape) and "layer upon layer" terraced fields decorating the edge of the stone block, creating a strange and unique "work".

Preliminary findings show that the carvings are quite meticulous, elaborate, and softly curved along the concave and convex surfaces of the rock face, in the shape of terraced fields, which is the main theme on this rock block, similar to what was discovered in Lao Chai commune in 2015, 2020, and 2021.

Mr. Ly Kim Khoa - Deputy Director of Yen Bai Provincial Museum said that, in general, the only outstanding theme of stone carvings is still the terraced fields.

However, the difference in the ancient stone carvings in Che Cu Nha commune is that there are convex concentric circular carvings, raised like a drum face and concave diamond shapes, which are different from the 14 stone blocks previously discovered in Lao Chai commune. From an ethnographic perspective, these could be carvings by the indigenous Mong people, dating back to around the 16th - 17th centuries, and could still be "terraced field designs" or depictions of terraced fields.

From the comparison, the stone carvings are very similar to the terraced fields that the Mong people are cultivating and gradually expanding today. To accurately determine the messages on the stones, scientists need to continue to research and decode to clarify both the age and the ethnology of the ancient stone carvings in Mu Cang Chai, Yen Bai province.

According to VOV