Archaeologists announced they had found eight ancient horse paintings carved into rocks in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Zhou Xinghua, former curator of the regional museum, found the horse paintings in the remote area of Xiangshan Mountains near Zhongwei city, while surveying existing rock paintings nearby.

One painting is 53 cm long and 20 cm tall, and among the largest of all such ancient rock paintings ever discovered, according to Zhou.

The others measure between 17 and 36 cm long.

Zhou said the horses were carved in hard bluestone, which was difficult to carve.

"Rock paintings became a necessity in ancient times, as people kept making them despite difficulties," he said.

Dating analysis has not been carried out, but most of the rock paintings near the area, mostly of painted animals, have been confirmed as Paleolithic or Neolithic.

Including the new area, 23 rock painting spots have been found in the Xiangshan Mountains since the 1970s.

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