Ancient vestiges on the cliff

On the cliffs of tens of meters high in the highland district of Quan Hoa, many drawings are still quite primitive, the image of humans and animals carrying messages of the ancients. Absolutely not carvings, red drawings like penetrating into the grain, lasting at the same time have raised many unanswered questions with researchers and local residents …

A primitive drawing on Pa Tém mountain with 4 people holding hands (big circle) and 1 dog behind (small circle). The mystery of high frescoes Mural – a term used to refer to drawings on erect cliffs. In Vietnam, archaeologists have discovered many prehistoric frescoes on the cliffs in Lang Son province, Cuc Phuong National Park area of ​​Ninh Binh province … In the highland district Quan Hoa, in addition to the drawings on Mount Pa Ti on the bank of the Ma River near Hoi Xuan town, recently discovered some more drawings on the Pa Phùng range in Phu Nghiem commune. Together with two researchers on history – folklore Ha Nam Ninh in Ba Thuoc district and Pham Van Cuong in Quan Hoa district, we arrived at the foot of Pa Phien mountain. Right along the inter-communal road leading up to Vinh Quang Ho tourist area of ​​Phu Nghiem commune, the mountain with another name translated from Thai into Kinh language is “Nui Ong” with a high cliff of hundreds of meters. Because we were entangled in the luxuriant wood canopy that obscured the view of the paintwork, we had to move to the luong forest of the people quite far away. From a distance of hundreds of meters, but using the zoom camera lens close, still clearly recognized the red paint on the high, located about 50m from the ground. Although not really sharp in terms of art, but with the naked eye, we can also recognize that this is a picture of 2 people holding hands, one big and one smaller. The size of each “person” is about the size of adult gloves, the head is simply a round shape, without eyes – nose – mouth, and hands and feet are clear, but do not draw in detail each finger, toes. About 500 meters away from the way the birds fly, a “prehistoric picture” with richer drawings has been seen by local people for many generations on the Pa Ter mountain range in Cham village, Xuan Phu commune (old). It has now been merged into Phu Nghiem commune. In Thai, Pa Tém means “Nui Ve”, or mountain with drawings. The name of the mountain range since ancient times no one knows, perhaps also comes from these red frescoes. Standing on the right bank of the Ma River, pictures on the cliffs can be seen right on the left bank of the river about a few hundred meters away. Although being blurred by the natural factors over many generations, it is not difficult to recognize 4 figures of people in the state of walking quite quickly, the tallest figure of the second person is about 40cm, the remaining 3 people. 30cm high. Approximately 1 meter away is a picture of a red animal quite clearly, with long legs equivalent to the body. There is also a red line between the people and the animal, but is blurred, and it is difficult to recognize the specific shape. The position of the lines is also about 10m from the edge of the river, on a smooth cliff, it is difficult for anyone to get up. According to Pham Quang That, 71-year-old Thai ethnic group, former Chairman of the Veterans Association of Quan Hoa district, who was born and raised in the Cham village – right next to the Pa Tém mountain range since childhood: We grew up and saw the features This drawing already. My grandfather said, from previous lives, he said he grew up seeing these red pictures. When we were a child, we were breeding buffaloes on the banks of the Ma River. During the dry season, we still swam to the other side, competing with each other to throw stones and pebbles to see who threw the closest high to the painting. Many locals also told us that, when it rains, the wet the cliffs become, the clearer and redder the lines are. The problem is, on a steep cliff, about 50m high, how can the ancients come up to draw? Are the drawings from prehistoric times, when the cliffs were still low, after geological changes or earthquakes and then emerged as high as today? What kind of message do the owners of the paintings belong to, what message do they leave to the next generation? What is the red material depicting with something that still does not fade for hundreds, even thousands of years? And many other questions are still unresolved mysteries that need to be studied and explained on the scientific basis. Some scientific explanations According to researchers, the more primitive the brush strokes, the more ancient the ability of the owner of the strokes in time to us. “Regarding the history of the Muong Ca Da land – where there are the above-mentioned murals, although this is now the area where Thai people live, in ancient times, the whole area includes districts of Ba Thuoc, Quan Hoa, Quan Son .. is living by the Xa people (one branch is the Kho Mu people today). Together with the delegation of Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Lan Cuong – a leading expert in archeology and archeology in Vietnam, I discovered Ma Xa cave not far from this Pa Tém mountain, and discovered the corporal remains according to custom. Xa people about 16,000 years ago. Many other caves have been discovered on the cliffs in Quan Hoa, Quan Son and Ba Thuoc districts also quite a lot, with the remains buried in the Xa style. Thus, in addition to the assessment that the drawings are of the Thai people, it is not excluded that the above mysterious “pictures” are of the Xa people who used to live here “- shared researcher Ha Nam Ninh. Mr. Cao Bang Nghia, a researcher of Thai culture in Quan Hoa district also wondered: “The name of Pa Ti mountain, which means“ Nui Ve ”, has existed since ancient times, the red paintings we have been approaching for decades. before. The drawing on Pa Phùng mountain was only recently known because bushes were growing around, and lying on high. There are still many mysteries that have not been decoded, cannot confirm when the drawing dates back, possibly thousands or even thousands of years ago. Observed with the naked eye, we perceive that this is a drawing made of red material, not the stone carving station. So what is the drawing with that substance that will not fade? In fact, the cliffs with this drawing are all oriented to the west and southwest, so the intensity of sunlight in the afternoon is very great, not to mention rain, wind, weathered rocks … Not long ago , when we showed the photo to cultural researcher Hoang Tuan Pho, he considered that the drawing material could be “earth king”. This is a red, iron-rich soil that was often mixed with some minerals and resin to paint in the ancients. It can penetrate deep into the grain, last a long time. Through research, in China, Indonesia and some Southeast Asian countries, scientists have also discovered many prehistoric murals on cliffs quite similar to those in Quan Hoa district. If so, what message did the ancients leave? According to researcher Ha Nam Ninh’s speculation, based on the drawing of two people holding hands on Pa Phep mountain, it is possible that the ancients expressed the desire to love couples, maybe this is the group kissing period. moving to the progressive stage, marking the breakup of the cave habitats, the activities of maintaining the outdated pair of kissing pants ?. Another comment is that, after seeing the photos we took, researcher Hoang Tuan Pho said that the picture of 4 people and an animal on Pa Tém mountain could reflect an old hunt. All of the above explanations are only conjecture and deductive. If there are petrographic research, analysis, materials and drawing dating and the participation of leading scientists, it is possible to decipher many unexplored mysteries. The legend of Pa Tém mountain painting In the process of finding a solution to the mysterious mural, we also collected folk tales related to the painting on Pa Tém mountain. This is a story in Thai language, about the story of 4 people and beasts on a cliff, passed by word of mouth in the form of folk literature, so no one knows since when. Researcher Cao Bang Nghia is a local Thai ethnic minority, so he previously collected, recorded and could read every sentence. The content of the legend is translated as follows: In the olden days, in the area of ​​Muong Moc and Muong Sang (in Son La province), there was a man who created the muong as Chu Sang. He married A Giam in the Trung Son (Quan Hoa) region today, after giving birth a girl with a beauty of diving fish, inclined to tilt the water. Due to the bad time, Chu Sang fell in love with his daughter and wanted to marry him. People in Muong objected to boycott and not allow them to live. Chu Sang built a raft, with his daughter – also a wife, a servant and a dog, who went to the river to live in. Heaven saw that Chu Sang’s work was unlawful, so he punished the flood to wash the raft. The raft continued to go down the Ma River, to the Mo Tom area of ​​the Cham village, Phu Nghiem commune, the river changed river so the raft drifted into the cliffs of the Pa Tém range. This is the king of the Dragon King, so a voice can be heard from the cliff: If you and your family want to live, give up that bad idea, otherwise I will sink the raft immediately !. Mr. Chu Sang hurriedly took gold, silver, and jewels to throw in the river for Dragon King and asked for his life but still did not want to change his mind. The Dragon King refused to release Mr. Chu Sang and caused the swirling water to gradually sink the raft, the daughter, the servant and the dog were submerged in the Ma River. Regretting his actions to cause disaster, before the raft drowned, Mr. Chu Sang asked Long Vuong to be painted on the cliff of animals and family members to pass on to the next generation. After finishing the painting, the raft and the Chu Sang muong were also pressed deeply into the water stream. The verses of this passage are memorized by many locals: Frankly shabby / Frustrated shabby / Shagged shaggy howl. Translated into: Line one drawing a picture of her / Line two drawing pictures / Drawing pictures of the midwife and maids / Drawing a dog with closed ears, a big mouth, and standing ears. The pictures on the cliffs are completely consistent with the content of hundreds of lines long poetry still circulating locally. According to that content, the second highest person is a muong, the smaller one is probably a girl and the other 2 people behind are servants. The animal not far away was the dog that was carrying. However, both researchers Ha Nam Ninh and Cao Bang Nghia expressed the viewpoint: This is just a legend story, possibly after a long time of frescoes, which were composed by folk to explain the drawings. available that they observe every day.