seeder Posted August 5, 2014 #1 Share Posted August 5, 2014 (edited) Well I did a search and found no reference to this, maybe Im wrong but will post anyway! 10 Enduring Mysteries of the Longyou Caves Located near the village of Shiyan Beicun in Zhejiang province, China, lies the Longyou caves – an extensive, magnificent and rare ancient underground world considered in China as ‘the ninth wonder of the ancient world.’ The Longyou grottoes, which are thought to date back at least 2,000 years, represent one of the largest underground excavations of ancient times and are an enduring mystery that have perplexed experts from every discipline that has examined them. Scientists from around the world in the fields of archaeology, architecture, engineering, and geology have absolutely no idea how they were built, by whom, and why. First discovered in 1992 by a local villager, 36 grottoes have now been discovered covering a massive 30,000 square metres. Carved into solid siltstone, each grotto descends around 30 metres underground and contains stone rooms, bridges, gutters and pools. There are pillars evenly distributed throughout the caves which are supporting the ceiling, and the walls, ceiling and stone columns are uniformly decorated with chisel marks in a series of parallel lines. Only one of the caves has been opened for tourism, chosen because of the stone carvings found inside which depict a horse, fish and bird. The Longyou caves truly are an enigma and here we will explore ten mysteries that are still unexplained despite more than two decades of research. Do pls click the article to see what the 10 mysteries are http://www.theepocht...-longyou-caves/ A wiki quote: The caves are notable in several respects: The caves are very large considering their man-made origin - the average floor area of each cave is over a thousand square metres, with heights of up to 30 metres, and the total area covered is in excess 30,000 metres. The ceiling, wall and pillar surfaces are all finished in the same manner, as a series of parallel bands or courses about 60 cm wide containing parallel chiselling marks set at an angle of about 60° to the axis of the course. They have maintained their structural integrity and appear not to interconnect with each other http://en.wikipedia....i/Longyou_Caves Edited August 5, 2014 by seeder 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeder Posted August 5, 2014 Author #2 Share Posted August 5, 2014 (edited) Some images as realised the above link had none! The chiselling on the cave walls and ceilings was executed in such a way that it has left them covered in a uniform pattern which some people believe is symbolic. It is similar to pottery found in the nearby museum which is dated between 500 and 800 BC. http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk/chinalongyou.htm Edited July 21, 2015 by Still Waters Replaced copyrighted images with source link 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithisco Posted August 5, 2014 #3 Share Posted August 5, 2014 ??? I just posted a link with stacks of images - and now that post has disappeared? Definitely an Unexplained Mystery :unsure2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeder Posted August 5, 2014 Author #4 Share Posted August 5, 2014 ??? I just posted a link with stacks of images - and now that post has disappeared? Definitely an Unexplained Mystery :unsure2: Can you repost? Sometimes you get a warning when posting like 'you cant post that type of image'.. did you see that message? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HMS Dreadnought Posted August 5, 2014 #5 Share Posted August 5, 2014 I can't offer any theories myself as I wouldn't even know where to start, but very interesting indeed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patient Zero Posted August 5, 2014 #6 Share Posted August 5, 2014 Mole people. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rafterman Posted August 5, 2014 #7 Share Posted August 5, 2014 An inspiring example of the use of math and engineering - the Chinese were advanced in these areas. Keep in mind, that the siltstone is defined as a medium-hard stone. Other examples of medium-hard stones are marble and sandstone. Carving such chambers and patterns wouldn't have been that difficult if you had the manpower. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithisco Posted August 5, 2014 #8 Share Posted August 5, 2014 Can you repost? Sometimes you get a warning when posting like 'you cant post that type of image'.. did you see that message? Here you go: http://www.sickchirpse.com/mysterious-chinese-longyou-grotto/ Nope, didn't get any kind of message - I posted, went back to follow up, and it had eerily disappeared. Anyway, these caverns are truly outstanding, and I would like to see this seriously followed up. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oniomancer Posted August 5, 2014 #9 Share Posted August 5, 2014 http://per-storemyr.net/2012/01/11/with-pickaxe-into-modern-times-quarrying-of-bernese-sandstone-ch/ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeder Posted August 5, 2014 Author #10 Share Posted August 5, 2014 (edited) http://per-storemyr....e-sandstone-ch/ Well Done Mr O! Have you come across that site before? For anyone who didn't read the page... at least we can explain how the caves were cut and what the curved marks were With the exception of the still-active quarries, extraction took place with the sole use of manual labour. And this basically meant carving narrow trenches around the blocks to be removed. A special double pickaxe, the Schrotpickel, was the main tool. The quarrymen used it standing beside the trench, typically with one knee on the ground, hacking out the sandstone, whereas the debris in the trench was removed with a tool called Schrothaue. In this way a remarkably regular pattern of parallel, curved lines on the quarry walls developed – marks that are similar in all Bernese quarries. They are also found in most other Swiss sandstone quarries. With the trenches around the block completed, it could be loosened at the base, i.e. along the bedding plane of the sandstone, using short wedges placed at regular intervals. Edited July 21, 2015 by Still Waters Image removed for copyright reasons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oniomancer Posted August 5, 2014 #11 Share Posted August 5, 2014 (edited) Well Done Mr O! Have you come across that site before? For anyone who didn't read the page... at least we can explain how the caves were cut and what the curved marks were Yep, I looked that up after running across this topic on ATS some time ago and I remembered seeing a picture of such marks in a salt mine in National Geographic.. What's p***ing me off is I'm certain there's a much better link somewheres loaded with just pics of one of those recent quarries but I didn't bookmark it and now I can't find it again. Edited August 5, 2014 by Oniomancer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeder Posted August 5, 2014 Author #12 Share Posted August 5, 2014 Yep, I looked that up after running across this topic on ATS some time ago and I remembered seeing a picture of such marks in a salt mine in National Geographic.. What's p***ing me off is I'm certain there's a much better link somewheres loaded with just pics of one of those recent quarries but I didn't bookmark it and now I can't find it again. Good memory! So is the finding that the Chinese ones were stone mines then, or just that they used the same style tool? Double picks make perfect sense and explain the 60 degree angles of them, after all if you have to pick, two pick heads are better than one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oniomancer Posted August 5, 2014 #13 Share Posted August 5, 2014 Good memory! So is the finding that the Chinese ones were stone mines then, or just that they used the same style tool? Double picks make perfect sense and explain the 60 degree angles of them, after all if you have to pick, two pick heads are better than one! AFAIK, the idea of picks never even came up. Last I saw they were on some flights about machine excavation and underground bunkers. I'm not a member there and I looked up pick marks on my own. I've been waiting patiently to see if the chinese site ever came up here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeder Posted August 5, 2014 Author #14 Share Posted August 5, 2014 AFAIK, the idea of picks never even came up. Last I saw they were on some flights about machine excavation and underground bunkers. I'm not a member there and I looked up pick marks on my own. I've been waiting patiently to see if the chinese site ever came up here. lol you could have just started the thread then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanslune Posted August 5, 2014 #15 Share Posted August 5, 2014 http://per-storemyr....e-sandstone-ch/ Very nice site with good info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ichihara Posted August 5, 2014 #16 Share Posted August 5, 2014 great pictures ! ! ! who built it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HMS Dreadnought Posted August 6, 2014 #17 Share Posted August 6, 2014 great pictures ! ! ! who built it? Ancient Aliens of course * *Only Joking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macroramphosis Posted August 7, 2014 #18 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Are there any double-headed picks in the relevant artifact history from China at that time ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted August 8, 2014 #19 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Very interesting. How have I not heard of these before? I wonder how big a search has been done for the removed stone? I wonder if they started to flood thus forcing them to be abandoned? Must had been a slow time in Chinese history to afford so many me working for 10 years or so building this. Very odd that there is no record of it and it was just forgotten about. If it was flooded, I guess that explains why it was forgotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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