Chinese writing 8,000 years old

Archaeologists have discovered more than 2,000 ancient pictorial symbols carved on the sides of a cliff in southwest China. According to researchers, the writing is more than 8,000 years old.

Many of the characters are reminiscent of the later forms of ancient Chinese writing. Li Xiangshi, a cliff carving expert at the North University of Nationalities in Ningxia Hui autonomous region, told the Xinhua news agency that the newly found pictographs are "similar to the ancient hieroglyphs of Chinese characters and many can be identified as ancient characters."

Prior to this discovery, the characters of the Chinese language were thought to date from about 4,500 years ago, based on inscriptions on pottery unearthed in Henan province in central China.