Hi guys. Today I want to talk about another interesting ancient stone tomb in China called
Beidongshan. It is the burial place of a King from over 2,100 years ago. It has two levels
which were constructed in dramatically different styles. Surprisingly, I found this tomb shares
four amazing characteristics with the ancient Temple of Osireion in Egypt.
Beidongshan is located in Xuzhou, China. This city contains at least 8 ancient King tombs
from the Han Dynasty. It is overflowing with rich cultural heritage. I discussed in my
last video the stone tomb in Guishan which is in the same city. The Han dynasty ruled
for four centuries from 206 BC to 220 AD.
Beidongshan was looted several times, yet some stunning artifacts survived, including
jade plaques from the king’s suit. A jade suit was a part of the Han royal burial custom.
The coins found in the tomb were dated between 175 to 128 BC.
Similar to this type of stone tomb, Beidongshan cave was also carved into a granite hill.
The cave shows advanced masonry work with unbelievable precision. It’s considered
the most complex of all the kings’ tombs from Han dynasty.
The unique thing about Beidongshan is, it has two structures: the main level and the
lower level also known as the auxiliary complex. The two were built with strikingly different
methods. The main level contained the king’s coffin and was carved into the granite hill
in a semi-symmetrical layout. In this old photo taken before the tomb’s excavation,
we can see the entrance looks different from today. This photo makes me question if the
front sections of the tomb, including the entry to the lower level were reconstructed.
Therefore I will only focus on the chambers that are located behind the main entrance,
because they remain minimally restored and better represent the original stone cave.
Please ignore the cement ceiling as pointed out in this photo, because it was added recently.
The main level has several chambers with gable ceilings which were created with amazing accuracy.
The stone finish is so smooth it looks polished. Some repair work had been done though we can
still see the chambers were carved entirely in stone. The chambers were painted with cinnabar,
a red-colored substance, which traces remain. Please pay close attention to the conjunction
lines - which were perfectly executed and are remarkably sharp. These cave chambers
were made from granite, a very hard stone with a hardness equal to steel. Today we use
powerful diamond drills or water jets to work on granite slabs. How would drills or water
jets create stone gable ceilings? Do we even have the tools today to duplicate such chambers
with the same precision? If today we would have so much trouble to reproduce these kinds
of caves, then how could ancient people from 2100 years ago with hand tools create this
incredible labor-some stone work? A perplexing question indeed!
The lower level is located outside the tomb gate and accessible through a staircase. Chinese
archeologists claim that this level was intended as the King’s entertainment and supply center
in his afterlife. This level was constructed with stone blocks instead of carving into
the hill. The blocks are of different sizes and were assembled with mortar. Some in-between
walls are made with larger stone blocks, and some end walls are carved from stone. The
lower level looks crude and primitive which is in contrast to the clean-cut, laser-accurate
main level.
If the king’s masons were the original builders, why didn't they build both levels the same
way? Why would the king ever agree to such contrasting styles?
I believe this means the two structures were built by different workers from different
eras. I hypothesize the following scenario: over 2100 years ago the King’s men discovered
the stone cave on the main level, and maybe ruins on the lower level. The site was likely
considered sacred and became the king’s tomb. The king’s masons reused the collapsed
stone blocks on site, and rebuilt with what was left there as best as they could in a
similar architectural fashion.
Someone may think it could be the other way around. The lower level was built before the
main level since it shows inferior construction. The main cave is visibly better than the lower
level so it was created later with improved techniques. Well, I disagree.
I think the main level was constructed first. Because if the king’s masons had the ability
to carve smooth caves, they would have used the same technology to carve the lower level.
They would not reuse or recycle an old crude structure. That would be like building a new
mansion while letting the old attached garage remain as is. That makes no sense. Furthermore,
the masonry difference between the main level and lower level is quite substantial. Are
we to believe that within the king’s lifetime the technology develop so much that it can
go from the crude construction to the advanced caves? For comparative purposes, it took us
about 2,000 years to make such a big technological leap from stacked stone blocks to precisely
carved stone chambers.
Let’s go back to the main level since this is where I found similar characteristics with
Osireion, the ancient Egyptian temple.
1. Similar Usage of Stone Joints At Beidongshan, we see obvious joints between
the two stacked stone blocks in the hallway. These 8-ton blocks were used to block the
entrance. The fit between blocks is very precise with sharp right angles which require advanced
masonry. Here are the joints at Osireion. Osireion was built at a lower level than the
foundation of the temple of Seti, who ruled 3,100 years ago.
Look at these side by side comparison photos. The Osireion stone blocks are much larger,
but the joints look identical. The fit of the joints at both sites are precise with
minimal gaps. These are typical joggle joints which creates a stable inter-locking result.
From the photos, we can see the Osireion’s joints look like the mortise and tenon type,
while Beidongshan’s used the tongue and groove joint. Nowadays we mainly use such
joint for wood and rarely on stone. As we can see, this joint is not easy to make with
hard material. A long narrow trench needs to be dug on one block, and a straight narrow
protrusion on the other. The two need to be a good match to make the locking work. Yet
how did workers from 2100 years ago manage to do this amazing task? The ancient Chinese
were not experts on stone construction like the Egyptians, Greeks or Romans. This is evident
by the fact that the few remaining ancient Chinese stone structures are not nearly as
old or as impressive. However, the stone joints at Beidongshan strongly suggest otherwise.
Were the Han masons the real creators of the stone cave or did they inherit it?
2. Similar Gable Ceilings Sophisticated stone gable ceilings are a rarity
among ancient sites. I found a few in China and Egypt. The ones in China belong to a group
of special cave tombs like Beidongshan and Guishan. The ones in Egypt concentrate in
pyramids’ chambers. Osireion is the one with close resemblance but not in a pyramid.
The stone cave ceilings at Beidongshan were carved directly from stone, though Osireion’s
ceilings were made of tightly fit stone blocks and bigger in scale. Two of the great pyramids
of Giza have chambers with gable ceilings made of stone blocks; such as the Queen’s
chamber in the Pyramid of Khafre. In Saqqara, another two smooth pyramids, the Pyramid of
Teti and the Pyramid of Unas from the Old Kingdom also have gable ceilings. These two
have the famous Pyramid Texts carved on the walls underneath the ceilings.
Look at these sites side by side. The ceilings look almost identical. This type of sophisticated
stone gable ceiling was uncommon in ancient time.
Here are some other structures with triangular ceilings though they don't have the same slope
or the same method of construction. Please leave a comment if you know any other ancient
sites that have stone gable ceilings.
3. Cyclopean walls with Custom Shaped Stone blocks
Some walls of the main level at Beidongshan, consists of stone blocks in different shapes
with very tight fittings. Such baffling stone walls were built with blocks that look custom
made or molded with every block fitting in perfectly. We have seen similar cyclopean
walls all over the world, including Peru, Egypt, Greece, Italy and Japan. This is the
first Chinese site I found with such a stone formation. Unfortunately there are not many
photos of Beidongshan for us to do more research on. AT least we can see the tight fittings,
the special L shape joint detail which means a slight undercut on one block. We can also
see blocks in unusual shapes which are also the characteristics of cyclopean walls.
Osireion’s giant stone blocks also have L-shape seams between blocks. It is very possible
that the stone blocks at both sites were made to inter-lock with masonry joints, like the
structures in Peru and other areas. They were designed so well that they survived earthquakes
and other natural disasters over thousands of years.
4. The Large Ridge and Groove Tool Marks Again? I have been discussing these distinct tool
marks in my previous videos. It is just mindboggling to see them show up on so many sites! The
majority of the walls and ceilings in Beidongshan’s main level are smooth. Yet some ceilings show
the same uniformed parallel tool marks that resemble the marks we see at Baalbeck, Petra,
Yangshan monument and many other ancient sites. Most importantly, they all share similar characteristics
to modern day machine marks. It seems that the chambers in Beidongshan
were excavated first with machinery with teeth which left the ridge and groove marks. Then
a fine finishing machine was used to create the smooth finish.
How about the Osireion? From afar, the Osireion blocks look smooth. But with some close up
shots, we can see the same tool marks on certain blocks. Does that mean the stone blocks in
Osireion were also excavated through roughing machinery before getting a smooth finish?
Since Beidongshan and Osireion show unfinished stones, it is possible that both were incomplete
projects.
The stone cave at Beidongshan shows highly advanced masonry that easily rivals today’s
technology. People from 2100 years ago using only hand tools can not do that. So was the
cave built by a prehistory advanced civilization?
I know that Beidongshan and Osireion are probably not related in anyway at all. However, the
similar construction characteristics may be the evidence of an unknown advanced global
civilization with highly sophisticated technology.
Some people may think this is far fetched pseudo archaeology. But let's do some math.
Our current known history traces back about 6,000 years, which is a mere fraction of human
history. Most scientists think that people who look like us -- anatomically modern Homo
sapiens -- evolved by at least 130,000 years ago. Their brain had reached today's size.
So anatomically they were the same as us and potentially as smart as us. So 130,000 yrs
of modern human history minus the 6,000 years of currently known history, means there is
a 124,000-year span of unknown time. The 10,000 year-old Göbekli Tepe already proves that
there were civilizations that existed beyond our understanding. Our 6,000 years is only
about 5% of modern human history. What did our ancestors achieve with their 95%? Is it
really unthinkable that there were advanced civilizations before ours?
Ok, let’s wrap it up here. If you have any insights, please leave me a comment. I would
love to hear from you. If you like my video, please give me a thumbs up and subscribe.
I have a wide range of topics that I want to share with you. This is Curious Being,
I am Tina. Thanks for watching and see you next time!