Tang-dynasty grotto sites and cliff statues discovered

Cliff statues and sites in front of grottoes from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) have been discovered in North China's Shanxi province, according to Shanxi Archaeology Institute.

The cliff statues and sites are located along the eastern bank of the Fenhe River, seven kilometers southwest of Huozhou city, and were discovered as part of a joint project conducted by Shanxi Archaeology Institute and Peking University.

In front of the grottoes there are a total of 20 exploratory sites, and the carving of grottoes and niches is very concentrated. Preliminary statistics suggest that there are more than 70 niches and about 300 statues. Above the cliff there is a sitting Buddha as high as six meters.

Nearly 20 imprints were found. It was determined that the imprints included several major categories, such as chronology, place names, and names of ordinary people and officials.

According to archaeologists, the cliff statues and the site in front of the grottoes were carved in the Gaowu period of the Tang Dynasty, an important Tang-dynasty medium-sized statue group in Shanxi province.