(ORDO NEWS) — Near the village of Shiyan Beikun in Zhejiang Province, China, are the Longyu Caves, a vast, magnificent and rare ancient underground world, considered in China “the ninth wonder of the ancient world.”
The Longyou Caves, also known as the Xiaonanhai Stone Chambers, is one of the largest underground excavations of antiquity and represents an enduring mystery that has puzzled experts from all walks of life who have explored it.
Scientists from all over the world in the field of archeology, architecture, engineering and geology have absolutely no idea how, by whom and why the Longwu Caves were built.
The caves were first discovered in 1992 by a local resident who decided to drain several ponds, which, according to the locals, were bottomless.
To date, 24 hand-carved caves have been discovered, covering an area of 30,000 square meters (322,917 square feet).
Carved into hard silty stone, each grotto descends 30 meters (98 ft) underground and contains stone rooms, bridges, troughs and pools.
The Longyou Caves have pillars evenly distributed throughout the cave that support the ceiling, and the walls, ceiling, and stone pillars are evenly decorated with chisel marks in a series of parallel lines.
Only one of the caves is open for tourism, chosen because of the stone carvings found inside, depicting a horse, fish and a bird.
The Longyou Caves in China’s Zhejiang province are truly a mystery, and here we take a look at ten enduring mysteries that remain unsolved despite more than two decades of research.
1- How were the Longyou Caves built?
A rough estimate of the amount of work associated with the construction of the Longwu Caves inspires awe.
The amount of rock that would have had to be removed during the general excavation of the grottoes is estimated at almost 1,000,000 cubic meters (35,314,666 cubic feet).
Considering the average rate of digging per day per person, the scientists calculated that it would take 1,000 people working day and night for six years to complete the work.
These calculations are based solely on hard work, but they do not take into account the incredible care and precision of the sculptors, which means that the actual amount of work far exceeds the theoretical estimate.
As to how they were built and what tools were used, this is still unknown. No tools have been found in the area and, as we will learn later, scientists still do not know how they achieved such symmetry, precision and similarity between the various caves.
2- No traces of construction
Despite their size and the effort put into their creation, no trace of their construction or even their existence has yet been found in archival sources.
Although almost a million cubic meters of stone was expended in the general excavation, there is no archaeological evidence to show where this amount of stone went, and no evidence of work.
Moreover, there is not a single historical document that would mention them, which is extremely unusual, given the scale of the project. The origin of Longyou Caves is a complete and utter mystery.
3- Why are the walls covered with strange lines?
All Longyou caves are covered from floor to ceiling with parallel lines that have been carved into almost every surface. The result is a single pattern throughout the cave, the creation of which would require a huge labor force and endless hours.
The question is why? Was such laborious work solely for decoration? Are these lines or patterns some kind of symbol?
What is known at present is that these marks are similar to those found on pottery in a nearby museum, which dates back to between 500 and 800 BC.
4- Lack of fish In Longyou Caves
When the caves were first discovered, they were filled with water, which was supposed to have been there for a long period of time.
They had to be pumped out to understand that these were not the same “bottomless ponds” as others found in the area, but man-made structures.
Most villages in southern China have very deep ponds, which generations of villagers have referred to as “bottomless ponds”.
These ponds abound with fish that are easy to catch. However, after the first cave was pumped dry, not a single fish or any other sign of life was visible.
5- How are the Longyou Caves so well preserved?
One of the most interesting and challenging questions is how the Longyou Caves have been able to maintain their structural integrity for more than 2,000 years.
There is no sign of collapse, no pile of rubble, no damage, despite the fact that the walls are only 50 centimeters (20 inches) thick in some places.
Over the centuries, this area has survived many floods, disasters and wars, the mountains have changed their appearance, and the exposed stones have weathered, but inside the Longyou Caves, the shape, patterns and marks are still clear and crisp – as if they were built yesterday.
6- How did the builders work in the dark?
Due to the great depth of the caves, some areas on the bottom that do not open from above are completely black.
But even these dark areas are decorated with thousands of parallel lines on the walls, columns and ceiling. How did ancient people work in the dark?
According to Jia Gang, a professor at Tongji University who specializes in civil engineering, “There must have been lamps because the mouth of the cave is very small, and the sunbeam could only shine into the cave at a certain angle for a certain period of time.
As one goes deeper into the cave, the light becomes dimmer. At the bottom of the cave, which is usually located tens of meters from the mouth, almost nothing was already visible. “However, this was at least two millennia ago, and nothing that could be used for lighting was found.
7- Were the Longyou Caves connected?
All of the Longyou Caves are located in an area of just one square kilometer (0.38 sq mi). Given such a high density, one cannot help but wonder if some grottoes were designed to connect.
What would be the point of making so many individual caves in such a tight area without connecting them?
In many places the walls between the caves are very thin, only 50 centimeters (20 inches), but they were never connected, so it seems that they were deliberately kept apart from each other. Moreover, many Longyou caves are almost identical to each other.
8- Who built the Longyou Caves?
Nobody knows who built the caves. Some scholars argue that such a large-scale work could not have been carried out by ordinary villagers.
Only the emperor and the chiefs could organize such a huge project as the construction of the Great Wall, which was built to protect against intrusion from the outside world. But if it was built by order of the emperor, then why are there no historical records of its construction?
9- How did they achieve such accuracy?
The scale of the Longwu Caves is majestic and grandiose, the design was delicate and scientific, the construction was intricate, and the precision testifies to the highest craftsmanship.
The model, pattern and style of each cave is extremely similar. Each grotto is like a large hall. One side is vertical and the other is 45% inclined.
The four walls are straight, edges and corners clearly defined. The carving marks in the Longyou Caves are uniform and precise.
“At the bottom of each cave, the ancient [builders] couldn’t see what others were doing in the nearby grotto,” explained Yang Hongsun, an expert at the Archaeological Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
However, “the inner surface of each cave had to be parallel to the inner surface of the other, otherwise the wall would have been punched through.
Thus, the measuring apparatus had to be very perfect. The dimensions, location and distances between the caves must have been predetermined.”
Using modern equipment and methods, the researchers measured the dimensions of the walls and were surprised to find that the overall construction was extremely accurate.
The walls between the caves have the same thickness in different areas. How did they achieve such accuracy? What were their methods?
10- What were the Longyou caves used for?
After extensive research, scholars and researchers have tried to offer explanations for the grottoes, but none of them has so far provided a convincing explanation of why they were built and what they were used for.
Some archaeologists suggest that the grottoes were old emperors’ tombs, imperial halls, or storage spaces. But such an interpretation is far-fetched. No funerary objects, no tombs, no artifacts left behind were found.
If the caves had been used as an emperor’s palace, they would no doubt have been designed differently, with separate rooms for different purposes such as entertainment, meetings, and sleeping. But there is no evidence of this, and no traces of habitation have been found.
According to another hypothesis, the Longyou caves were used for mining. However, mining would require equipment and apparatus to extract the stones and transport them.
Again, no trace of this has been found, nor is there any evidence of where the stones were taken.
And of course, if the caves were only meant for mining, why was it necessary to create such intricate decorations on the walls, columns and ceilings?
Finally, some suggest that these caves housed troops and that the emperor of the past wanted to hide his soldiers from prying eyes in order to keep the preparations for war secret.
However, these caves could not be built in a short amount of time.
They would have taken many, many years to build, so it is unlikely that they were done in preparation for war, which usually happens much faster. In addition, there are no traces of people living in the caves.
Despite decades of research, very few answers have emerged to explain the mystery of the Longyou Caves.
Our ancient ancestors achieved many miracles throughout history, but this discovery from China is truly an unsolved mystery that has yet to be unraveled.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.