On September 15, the National Cutural Heritage Administration held a press conference in Beijing. The reporter learned from the meeting that the "Kunlun Stone Carving" located in Maduo County, Qinghai Province, which had attracted wide attention before, was identified as a stone carving of the Qin Dynasty and named "Garitang Qin Stone Carving" (hereinafter referred to as "Stone Carving") after careful study by relevant experts organized by the National Cutural Heritage Administration. On June 8, 2025, researcher Tong Tao from the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences published an article in Guangming Daily titled "Empirical Study of the Geographical Location of Ancient Kunlun Mountains - Discovery of Stone Carvings of the" Medicinal Kunlun Mountains "Sent by Emperor Qin Shi Huang at the Source of the Yellow River in Qinghai", which sparked social discussion. The National Cutural Heritage Administration quickly arranged the Chinese Cultural Heritage Research Institute and the Qinghai Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology to set up special work classes, went to the scene twice to investigate, and obtained scientific data such as the stone carving body and the occurrence environment. According to the introduction, the carved stone is located in Zhuorang Village, Zhalinghu Township, Maduo County, Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. It is situated on the north bank of Zhalinghu Lake, at the lower left corner of the 2nd steep slope of Garitang Slope, about 200 meters away from the lake shore, with an altitude of 4306 meters. The total length of the engraved wall is 82 centimeters, with a maximum width of 33 centimeters. The engraved area is about 0.16 square meters and is about 19 centimeters above the ground. The full text consists of 12 lines and 36 words, with an additional word for Hewen, for a total of 37 words. The writing style belongs to Qin seal script, and the well preserved textual information is "Emperor/Envoy Wu/Grand Minister □/General □/Cai Le □/Kui Yi/March of the 37th year/Ji Mao Che Zhi/This Yi □/Qian □ Ke/□ One hundred and fifty li". The carved stone is carved on a joint surface of quartz sandstone formed 250 million years ago, facing southeast and facing away from the mountains and water. The carved stone is relatively less affected by wind erosion and high temperature radiation from light, which is conducive to long-term preservation. Non destructive testing of the engraved stone surface and investigation of the engraved stone structure indicate that the rock structure in the engraved area is relatively complete, with high surface strength, relatively flat, and no obvious structural defects, providing necessary conditions for the selection of engraved surfaces. The carved stone is a medium to fine-grained feldspar quartz sandstone with high uniaxial compressive strength and abrasion index. It belongs to highly abrasive rocks and provides necessary conditions for its long-term preservation. It is a key factor for its preservation after more than a thousand years of natural weathering. The difference in elemental composition between the engraved and non engraved areas is small, and no metal elements such as tungsten and cobalt are detected on the surface, ruling out the possibility of using modern alloy tools for chiseling. The Garitang Qin carved stone is an important achievement of the Fourth National Cultural Relics Census. The carved stone is associated with Zhaling Lake to form a cultural landscape, and the overall preservation is basically intact. Most of the text is clear and recognizable. As the year, month, and day of the carved stone are complete, it is not recorded in literature. It is currently the only known Qin Dynasty carved stone in China that exists at the original site and has the highest altitude. It has important historical, artistic, and scientific value. With regard to the next step of protection measures for carved stones, Deng Chao, director of the Department of Cultural Relics and Monuments of the National Cutural Heritage Administration, said that in the future, the National Cutural Heritage Administration will follow the principle of "protecting the original site", scientifically formulate a protection plan for carved stones, prepare a protection plan, and carefully demonstrate the necessity and feasibility of building protection facilities. (New Society)