Mysterious Cave Complexes discovered in China.

reply to post by Doodle19815


I don't see it

reply to post by Kantzveldt


That is awesome. Does make you wonder the true history of both series of caves. Plus, were these series of caves ever interconnected once before? And, how many more of these are around China and surrounding countries?

I am stumped that no records were found in China. Ancient China beuracracy was well-known for recording almost all aspects of life. There has to be some record somewhere that can shed more light.

Originally posted by pheonix358

Originally posted by AthlonSavage
reply to post by Kantzveldt

 

How was the rock carved out so precisely and effectively back then?

By trades people who took great pride in their work and spent time getting it right. Hard to find such people in Western Society. Every one wants to make a million in as short a time as possible.

P

That is solid stone, etched and honed in perfect lines. I cannot believe it wasn't done by machinery or some other form of high technology. Where is all the rubble that was removed from this site?

reply to post by Casualboy100






(It is just paredolia, but it caught me off guard.)

Beautiful and amazing! The stone bridge is so cool! I would so love to see these! Thanks for sharing OP!

reply to post by Kantzveldt


Thanks for posting this! It's amazing what ancient humans were capable of doing all by themselves...

S+F....really nice find!

I find it amusing that people just stumble over these things....

"I was bored one day so I thought I'd pump some water out of this pond....guess what I found!"

This why i first came here, for finds like this. Simply amazing OP.

reply to post by Kantzveldt


This along with other intricate cave systems makes me think that we, as a race, had to live underground for an extended amount of time due to some unknown catastrophie.

Reminds me a little of the Mines of Moria from Lord of the Rings.



neat find!

Wonder if these cave complexes is close to any of the pyramids found in China? The Chinese government hides the pyramids but not these caves, maby they are not connected.

Siltstone is very easy to carve and if you look at the Chinese studies you'll find they've found differentiation in the chisel marks.

Engineering of the Longyou grottoes

Originally posted by AthlonSavage
reply to post by Kantzveldt

 

How was the rock carved out so precisely and effectively back then?

My other concern would be how did they not collapse or know the structure/material tolerances?

Originally posted by Kantzveldt

One sees everywhere the quite distinctive concern with carved pattern;

It seems like some kind of a giant fingerprint on moldable material

reply to post by Kantzveldt


There are pics of statues and "murals" that can likely date it. I get the vibe that the whole "mystery" thing is to some extent being played up for tourist and PR purposes by the locals or Chinese gov.

See here for pics of murals and statues...also do a google image search for "Longyou" caves...there is a Bhuda etc.

LINK

I'd still question whether all the caves discovered in this find are ancient. Just because they connect to the same network doesn't mean they're the same age. Some tunnels and vaults in those pictures look machined out and could be much more modern. Perhaps a forgotten bunker from some more recent project. Could even be something as recent as dating back to WWII era or something the nationalist government abandoned when the communists routed them.

Still it looks like an interesting find though.

reply to post by Indigo5



The murals look like modern fittings of the visitors centre, but the sculpted figure and facade looks Taoist and should be dateable.


I think the only reason the Chinese don't explain them as early Taoist centres is because they don't want to encourage this religion, which was suppressed during the Cultural Revolution.

There are traditionaly 72 small hermitage caves cut into the cliffs of Huashan mountain and inside them can be found the same markings as in the caves, they are concerned with facilitating the flow of natural energies.





reply to post by Spider879



Probably a Monastic centre connected to the small hermitages of the mountain, not a Temple as such as the Taoists didn't have Deities, but did recognise Immortal Celestial Masters which they aspired to also become, through stillness and silent contemplation leading to Enlightenment.

reply to post by Kantzveldt


What about the mysterious pyramids in China?
They covered them with dirt but we can all see them using Google Earth.
Who built those?

Those tool marks definitely look like air powered tools. I would imagine something similar to a jackhammer.

Originally posted by AthlonSavage
reply to post by Kantzveldt

 

How was the rock carved out so precisely and effectively back then?

You would use the skills of different people - some would be fast at cutting rough shapes and large blocks, other would find it meditation to do the patterns on the walls. Others might be happy to transport the rubble away in baskets. But perhaps they were natural caves that were just reshaped a bit.

Perhaps the original constructors used the cave-excavating project as part of their training. It would be a good way to get people physically active and then help them concentrate their thoughts.

To remove large blocks, you could chisel in a U shape wide enough for the stone to fall down on its own weight. Other methods include creating a crack and pouring water into it and letting it freeze. Maybe they had access to gunpowder, that would have sped things up considerably. Another method is to place metal poles into the rock and heat them up so that they expand.

But the fine detail would have been hand chiselled.