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originally posted by: StoutBroux
a reply to: Klassified
The astonishing number of caves, some dug into the cliffside, others tunnelled from above, are thousands of years old but who built them and why remains a mystery. A scientist scales a fragile rock face to reach the 800-year-old caves, right, while the team hike below some of the entrances,
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...
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I'm thinking thousands because it's mentioned several times but hey, we all make mistakes from time to time.
ETA:
OK, I've looked at all the pictures several times and besides the height issue, why would anyone live there? There is nothing around, how did they eat or clothe themselves? Is there a village nearby? Maybe it was for religious purposes, similar to monks or holy men and village people brought them food and clothing.
My theory is that the river was much, much higher and as the water receded, they built the caves.
Thanks OP, this is an awesome find!
originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: TheSpanishArcher
Did you see the art depictions on the wall in the one cave picture?
You'll notice the pyramid drawings, and if you look closely at the Buddha like figures at the top you'll notice the halo around their head.
Weird huh?
The mystery schools were all over ancient cultures. They were far more connected then we are. We're the U evolved ones.
Secrets of the Sky Caves takes place in the Mustang region which is controlled by Nepal. In 2007 a team that included climbers, archaeologists, an author and two children spent thirty days traveling to the "Sky Caves" in Mustang. The caves were carved to be used as dwellings and burial chambers beginning around 1000 BCE. The 2007 expedition was led by Pete Athans, brother of the author. Using climbing gear, the team was able to reach caves high in the mountainous region where they discovered cave paintings dating back to the 1100s. They also located ancient, clay artifacts and rare manuscript papers containing religious writing. The team returned several times with the permission of the government of Nepal and Buddhist leaders. Their mission was to remove artifacts and papers and to document what they had discovered including numerous mummified bodied and the heads of mummified animals.
originally posted by: Char-Lee
a reply to: TheSpanishArcher
Wow what a place to live!Or bury your dead but i would assume no dead were found.I so wish i were not afraid of heights!This could be a place to find something so many caves!
An estimated 10,000 of these mysterious human-built caves have been found in the former Kingdom of Mustang in North, Central Nepal. Those who have seen the mysterious caves say the effect of them on the cliff face makes it look like a giant sandcastle.
Hidden within the Himalayas, 155ft from the ground, these man-made caves are one of the World's greatest archaeological mysteries.
Thousands of holes are carved into the fragile, sandy-coloured cliff in a gorge so large it dwarfs the Grand Canyon.
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...
In the 1990s, a high Himalayan cave in Upper Mustang, Nepal was discovered to contain 42 ancient people, buried on wooden bunk beds. American archaeologist Dr. Mark Aldenderfer believes there must be more burial caves, but the challenge is how to find them deep within cliff faces in the cold and inhospitable environment of the Himalaya. He enlists the world's best technical climbers to do the searching. Aldenderfer's theory is the funerary caves were carved out by the earliest people to have settled in the Himalaya. If he can find their remains and extract their DNA, he'll learn who these people were and what brought them to the toughest parts of the planet to live.
Upon cleaning and taking painstakingly detailed observations of each bone, Eng discovers that 63 percent of the bones have cut marks on them, clear evidence of defleshing! Aldenderfer's quest takes an unexpected turn toward the macabre as he begins to trace the mortuary practices of Himalayan peoples, including the distinct sky burial rituals of the people of Upper Mustang today, where they cut up the flesh and bones of their dead and offer them to birds of prey.
originally posted by: TheSpanishArcher
www.dailymail.co.uk...
I looked and didn't come across this but with the search it seems to be hit and miss. If it's already up then do what needs to be done.
I have no idea what the deal is with these cave but they are interesting. I may have seen a picture on another site or on Ancient Aliens(or whatever show it was I saw this on) that had a Buddha statue in the cave but I may be mistaken. It's not at the link provided. How they got into these caves, why they built them, well, I have no answers.
originally posted by: damo1583
originally posted by: Char-Lee
a reply to: TheSpanishArcher
Wow what a place to live!Or bury your dead but i would assume no dead were found.I so wish i were not afraid of heights!This could be a place to find something so many caves!
An estimated 10,000 of these mysterious human-built caves have been found in the former Kingdom of Mustang in North, Central Nepal. Those who have seen the mysterious caves say the effect of them on the cliff face makes it look like a giant sandcastle.
Hidden within the Himalayas, 155ft from the ground, these man-made caves are one of the World's greatest archaeological mysteries.
Thousands of holes are carved into the fragile, sandy-coloured cliff in a gorge so large it dwarfs the Grand Canyon.
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...
I doubt you would find any remains there, its normal custom for Himalayan cultures to leave their dead on a ledge and vultures take them! Its a spiritual thing as in the body gets consumed again by nature! Cool find tho!
thanks for the info
originally posted by: Quetzalcoatl14
originally posted by: damo1583
originally posted by: Char-Lee
a reply to: TheSpanishArcher
Wow what a place to live!Or bury your dead but i would assume no dead were found.I so wish i were not afraid of heights!This could be a place to find something so many caves!
An estimated 10,000 of these mysterious human-built caves have been found in the former Kingdom of Mustang in North, Central Nepal. Those who have seen the mysterious caves say the effect of them on the cliff face makes it look like a giant sandcastle.
Hidden within the Himalayas, 155ft from the ground, these man-made caves are one of the World's greatest archaeological mysteries.
Thousands of holes are carved into the fragile, sandy-coloured cliff in a gorge so large it dwarfs the Grand Canyon.
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...
I doubt you would find any remains there, its normal custom for Himalayan cultures to leave their dead on a ledge and vultures take them! Its a spiritual thing as in the body gets consumed again by nature! Cool find tho!
But that is mostly a Tibetan custom... Not "Himalyan cultures." Remember that the Himalayan cultures extend across Tibet, Nepal, and Northern India. The Hindus do not practice what you are mentioning. There are, however, many communities living across the area that are Tibetan in origin.
originally posted by: TheSpanishArcher
a reply to: Hanslune
I first saw this on Ancient Aliens but I went looking and can't seem to find any pics like what I saw on the show. There's a huge Buddha statue in there that was what really intrigued me. Well, that and the fact that the entrances are way up on cliffs, that's always interesting. They barely talked about it and only showed a couple of pics
Here's a screenshot:
So what's the little dude there holding up his arm? Don't know if Ive ever seen that but I'm not a religious expert either.
I did come across this book that says these were checked out in 2007.
www.nonfictiondetectives.com...
Secrets of the Sky Caves: Danger and Discovery on Nepal's Mustang Cliffs
by Sandra K. Athans
Millbrook Press, 2014.
Secrets of the Sky Caves takes place in the Mustang region which is controlled by Nepal. In 2007 a team that included climbers, archaeologists, an author and two children spent thirty days traveling to the "Sky Caves" in Mustang. The caves were carved to be used as dwellings and burial chambers beginning around 1000 BCE. The 2007 expedition was led by Pete Athans, brother of the author. Using climbing gear, the team was able to reach caves high in the mountainous region where they discovered cave paintings dating back to the 1100s. They also located ancient, clay artifacts and rare manuscript papers containing religious writing. The team returned several times with the permission of the government of Nepal and Buddhist leaders. Their mission was to remove artifacts and papers and to document what they had discovered including numerous mummified bodied and the heads of mummified animals.
originally posted by: TheSpanishArcher
www.dailymail.co.uk...
I looked and didn't come across this but with the search it seems to be hit and miss. If it's already up then do what needs to be done.
I have no idea what the deal is with these cave but they are interesting. I may have seen a picture on another site or on Ancient Aliens(or whatever show it was I saw this on) that had a Buddha statue in the cave but I may be mistaken. It's not at the link provided. How they got into these caves, why they built them, well, I have no answers.
originally posted by: damo1583
thanks for the info
originally posted by: Quetzalcoatl14
originally posted by: damo1583
originally posted by: Char-Lee
a reply to: TheSpanishArcher
Wow what a place to live!Or bury your dead but i would assume no dead were found.I so wish i were not afraid of heights!This could be a place to find something so many caves!
An estimated 10,000 of these mysterious human-built caves have been found in the former Kingdom of Mustang in North, Central Nepal. Those who have seen the mysterious caves say the effect of them on the cliff face makes it look like a giant sandcastle.
Hidden within the Himalayas, 155ft from the ground, these man-made caves are one of the World's greatest archaeological mysteries.
Thousands of holes are carved into the fragile, sandy-coloured cliff in a gorge so large it dwarfs the Grand Canyon.
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...
I doubt you would find any remains there, its normal custom for Himalayan cultures to leave their dead on a ledge and vultures take them! Its a spiritual thing as in the body gets consumed again by nature! Cool find tho!
But that is mostly a Tibetan custom... Not "Himalyan cultures." Remember that the Himalayan cultures extend across Tibet, Nepal, and Northern India. The Hindus do not practice what you are mentioning. There are, however, many communities living across the area that are Tibetan in origin.
originally posted by: TheSpanishArcher
a reply to: Quetzalcoatl14
Two things.
1. Showoff(nice link, though).
2. Yeah, but how many are nearly as inaccessible as these are? They gotta get brownie points for creativity, at least.
Why are all these sacred sites so hard to get to anyway? There's always 7,000 stairs or some such. You would think they would make it a little easier to communicate with the gods. Sort of a rhetorical question but sometimes I wonder about stupid things like that as religion baffles me. Seriously, there was one in the AA show where people die all the time trying to get to the top of this mountain and it's a block of ice.