Hi guys. Today I will discuss my exciting theory on the real purpose of the mysterious
Longyou caves, which are at least 2,000 years old. My new theory, which I present here for
the 1st time, perfectly answers major questions about this site. These mind-blowing caves
have baffled historians since their discovery in 1992. Who created them and why were they
built? In my previous video I presented evidence on why I believe these caves were machine-made
by an advanced ancient civilization – click above and watch that one. I will share my
new findings in this video. A heads up, the answer to why these caves were built has been
hidden in plain sight!
Despite the size differentiation, the Longyou caves are very similar. Each cave looks like
a grand hall with a small entryway, oversized stairs, a sloped ceiling and one or more sunken
holes in the middle. You can imagine someone using these caves for ballroom dancing or
hosting a huge charity event.
In my previous video, I showed what the caves looked like at ground level. These small shallow-looking
ponds are the only entrances to the caves. For centuries local villagers used the ponds’
fresh water because it never went dry and the water level remains the same. In 1992
a local farmer was fishing here and caught a big fish. His friends were surprised and
thought there could be more fish and possibly treasures in the pond. So they set up a pump
and pumped for 17 consecutive days and nights, a big cave appeared. This is how Longyou Caves
were discovered.
When the villagers finally drained the caves, they found neither fish nor treasure. The
caves were completely empty! Where did the fish go? Are there any other openings in the
caves that might explain where the fish went? It seemed unlikely since people can now walk
to the bottom of the caves.
Yet what about these rectangular sunken areas? Could they be a key to unravel this mystery?
We see from photos that these sunken areas are filled with water like small pools. For
now I will call them “pools”. The average depth of each pool is 5m or 16’. The pool
water is naturally formed within the caves and not maintained by anyone. Today the cave
water must be pumped out weekly or the caves will flood. This clearly indicates the presence
of an underground stream or aquifer. Longyou caves are located on a small hill
and very close to a river, so it is highly likely that the caves are connected to the
river. Btw the other site, which is similar to Longyou, is also located near a river.
Scholars described the pool’s four walls as having two walls of carved stone; and two
walls assembled with stone blocks. The stone blocks are more permeable than sandstone so
water can transfer. The ancient builders could have easily carved out the entire pool with
only stone but chose not to. There must be a reason why the pools were constructed in
this particular way. I couldn’t find information on the pool bottoms btw. In all likelihood
the pool bottoms are not a solid piece; which explains why there were no fish found. The
lucky fish must have escaped there as the water began to drain.
So why were stone blocks used at these pools? This interesting feature reminded me of another
structure used in ancient times - water wells. The bottom part of a well also uses porous
material such as gravel to withdraw water from an aquifer. If these pools in Longyou
caves served as water wells, that would match up with the fact that Longyou caves were built
on top of an underground aquifer. I believe the original ancient builders specifically
chose the caves’ location with full understanding of the hydrogeography. It is not a coincidence
that the caves have access to a continuous water supply even today.
This leads to one of the most challenging questions: WHAT WERE THESE CAVES BUILT FOR??
WHAT WAS THEIR INTENDED PURPOSE? Current theories state the caves were made by manual labor
and served as a quarry, or a tomb, or a king’s palace, or storages or a hiding place. These
theories are not accepted by a majority of scholars because none of them can explain
the unique characteristics of the Longyou caves, such as why the caves have no signs
of oil lamp or torches, accessible entryways, normal-sized stairs, living quarters, or why
didn’t the masons quarry the stone on the ground which would have been less labor intensive
and safer.
All the caves, despite their size differences, have similar layouts and structural features.
So consistent that we might think of current day residential developments, which have clusters
of uniformed houses. Were the Longyou Caves dwellings then? I say NO.
Lets compare the Longyou caves with other famous cave systems, which are known for their
residential usage. Here I am showing Derinkuyu in Turkey. Derinkuyu is a complicated multi-level
cave system where all rooms and stairs are human-scale and interconnected like a neighborhood.
Here are cave houses in Spain, some of which are still used as dwellings today. And here
is a cave house in Italy. We can see the caves in Turkey, Italy and Spain are all close to
human-scale with evidence of people having once lived in them. Each of these cave houses
has its own entryway, bedroom, kitchen and living area. But all the Longyou caves have
only one cavernous space. Why is that? Even in prehistory time, people built houses with
different rooms for separate functions (SHOW PREHISTORY SITE). Even if the Longyou caves
were built by giants; giants still need to sleep, cook and raise a family. For this reason
I don’t believe the Longyou caves were made for residential living. The caves had another
very specific and obvious purpose. As I mentioned earlier, today many of the
Longyou caves remain filled with water, and the open caves must be pumped weekly to stay
dry. So what if these caves were actually designed and built to collect and store water,
like ancient wells and cisterns? The technology of cisterns can be traced back to prehistoric
times. A cistern is different from a well. A well provides access to groundwater in aquifers,
while a cistern was used to store large amounts of rainwater. Btw we still use cisterns today,
such as water towers, water tanks and covered reservoirs, which are essential to daily living.
I conclude that the Longyou caves were intended for water collection, and were built by a
lost prehistory civilization with machinery. These caves work as a combination of well
and cistern, which can “withdraw” water from underground aquifers like a well and
also “store water” like a cistern.
Let me show you photos of ancient cisterns. Here are photos of Municipal water Cisterns
in Istanbul, Paris, Copenhagen and Jordan, which are dated to the middle ages or earlier.
Underground cisterns are capable of holding more water and since they are insulated by
rock they lose much less water through evaporation. Stairs in these cisterns provide easier access
to the water and can be used for maintenance, such as getting to the bottom to clean the
rock filters and sludge accumulation. Here are a few photos of a cistern in Masada Israel.
Don't you agree that the scale of these cisterns is similar to that of the Longyou caves?
The sloped bottoms of Longyou caves could be an ideal feature to allow leaves or thicker
materials like sludge to discharge completely and also facilitate cleaning. This well planned
feature works like today’s sloped bottom tanks. As for why the caves are in various
sizes, maybe they were used for different purpose such as household and agricultural
needs, which would require different amounts of water; and maybe individual caves were
owned by different ancient companies or families.
Therefore I believe the Longyou caves are an ancient combination of cisterns and wells.
Using my new theory, we can comfortably explain almost every feature and characteristic of
the Longyou caves such as its’ giant scale, the small entryways, the single enormous empty
spaces, the stairs going down, the sloped bottom, no signs of wear and tear, no signs
of a lighting system, no signs of any human quarters, no furniture or artifacts and no
connections between caves. My theory even explains why fish were not found once the
caves were drained. The most stunning thing is, these cisterns still function today, as
they were originally intended thousands of years ago! Truly amazing considering how ancient
the caves are.
With advancing technology, new evidence leads to amazing discoveries, which reveal the purpose
behind ancient sites. Old theories change, new theories develop, transforming our thinking
about the past. We live in an incredible era full of cutting-edge tools that help us explore
and uncover hidden mysteries. Looking beyond 6k years we can now picture incredible technologies
having built these magnificent caves in ways and methods similar to how we create our current-day
marvels.
In my next video, I will discuss a site which is categorized as an ancient quarry with underground
streams that you probably never heard of. If you like my video, please give me a thumbs
up and subscribe. You can also support me on Patreon with the link below.
This is Curious Being, I am Tina. Thanks for watching and see you next time!