2. Half-meter wall distance: The caves are close to each other but never connected, which is difficult for even modern scientific instruments to do. Why did the ancient people dig and measure so accurately? 、
3. No historical materials: such a grand underground project is not directly recorded in historical materials such as local chronicles. Why?
4. Where did the stone go? It is estimated that the amount of stone mined by the cave group is at least 800,000 square meters, and the mined red sandstone is difficult to be used as building materials. Where is it?
5. Cave wall stone carving: There are stone carving patterns of birds, horses and fish on the stone wall of Cave 1, and lightning stone carving patterns in Cave 2. What does this mean?
6. Rectangular pool: There is a rectangular pool of about 20 square meters in the center of each cave. Two toilets are dug, and the other two toilets are made of stone. what is the purpose?
7. Where did the fish go? In the past, caves were used as temple release ponds with big fish in them. The villagers often fish here, but after the water is drained, there are no fish. Why?
8. The Big Dipper: The layout of the seven grottoes that have been discovered is like the Big Dipper. Is it intentional design or pure coincidence?
9. Number of grottoes: 36 grottoes have been discovered. Are there more grottoes? Is still an unsolved mystery.
10. Legend of solar eclipse in grottoes: Longyou grottoes are composed of dozens of caves, large and small, cleverly arranged according to the stars. This reminds people of China's advanced astronomy. Members who used to do this work were all royal priests, so they were easily associated with temples. Let's take a look at the structure of each cave: each cave is a magnificent hall, with an inverted rectangle, small on the top and large on the bottom. There are carved marks on the neck and cave walls, and even clearly visible murals about animals such as horses, birds and fish. These symbolic pictures are more reminiscent of the connection with religion, and some important ceremonies must be held in them. Each grotto has a skylight (used to be considered as an exit) and a rectangular square pool, the bottom of which is connected with the outside river. The use of this reservoir has always puzzled people. These reservoirs used to be called "baptismal pools", which were used by the king to baptize at sacrificial ceremonies. The skylight is the entrance and exit for the priests to observe the movement of the solar eclipse accurately and timely during the sacrificial ceremony. Therefore, Longyou Grottoes were actually sacrificial temples of Yue State at that time!
1 1. Function conjecture of Longyou Grottoes;
A. Quarrying critics believe that the main purpose of digging Longyou Grottoes is quarrying. But the objection came: "If you want to quarry, why not open-pit mining, but underground mining?" Moreover, opening a small hole from the top and then mining vertically downward increases the trouble and difficulty for no reason. Why not open your mouth a little wider? Why do you want to use the top excavation method, which is much more complicated and difficult than the flat hole excavation method and the bottom excavation method?
It is no accident that the 24 grottoes in Fenghuang Mountain are adjacent to each other, dependent on each other from top to bottom, relatively independent and very similar underground. So quarrying is derived from the theory that quarrying is not the only purpose. Critics believe that the main purpose of digging Longyou Grottoes is quarrying, but the space obtained has other uses.
B. Commentators of cave theory believe that Longyou Grottoes were dug by the ancients for cave dwelling. Commentators based on historical data. Because in Han Yu's Xu Yanwang Temple Inscription and related records, whenever many people are mentioned, it involves the matter of "cutting stones for the room to suppress the king". It is true that Longyou is a place where descendants live together, and cities and counties such as Xu, Jin and Qu are the most common names, but why did their ancestors spend so much money to carve stone chambers and live in groups? The south is far less dry than the north. Is it convenient to live underground? Besides, do they have enough financial resources?
C. the palace said. Critics believe that it should be the work of an absolute authority for some special needs, which can be said to belong to the king, so it is probably the palace of Gu Mi countries. However, as a palace, it is a place where members of the royal family live for a long time. Why are there no royal relics in the palace? As a royal palace, such a spacious hall should be properly separated and have internal buildings, while the grottoes are empty, with no traces of shelter and internal buildings. What can only the pool explain? The distance between the upper and lower steps of the grottoes is also very large, so it is difficult to transport and enter and exit. Does the king not consider disasters caused by fire, water, earthquakes or other reasons?
D. the mausoleum said. Critics believe that Longyou Grottoes may be tombs built by ancient wuyue emperors or other princes. Because according to the dome-shaped top of the grottoes, it is very consistent with the characteristics of some underground tombs before the Han Dynasty. However, it cannot be said that there should be tombs, coffins and funerary objects, such as gold, silver, bronze, pottery, porcelain, jade and jewelry, textiles or their fragments, but the grottoes are empty.
E. the warehouse said. This was put forward by Dr Chu Cai Liang of Zhejiang University.
Critics believe that, geographically, Longyou Grottoes are located at the intersection of Qujiang, Lingshan and Tashi Rivers. In the past, when water transportation was the main means of transportation, it was an important traffic area, with merchants gathering and heavy traffic. It is also reasonable to dig many underground grottoes along the river to store materials.
However, the warehouse said that it could not be explained that the ancient Longyou economy was developed again, and there was no need for so many underground warehouses to store goods. The cave hall is so high that the storage utilization rate is extremely low, which is contrary to common sense.
F. megalithic culture theory. It is right in a broad sense, such as the pyramids in Egypt, the Sun Gate in the Temple of Tiwanako, Stonehenge in London, England, and the stone carving palaces in Africa. Longyou Grottoes naturally belong to the megalithic culture. However, the megalithic culture of Longyou Grottoes is not piled up with megaliths on the ground, but hidden underground and excavated from megaliths, which is different from pyramids, Sun Gate, Stonehenge and stone carving palaces.
G. alien theory. Longyou Grottoes were made by aliens. He wrote a book "The Mystery Cave of Longyou Discovered by Aliens in China", which proved that Longyou Grottoes is a veritable megalithic culture. But this is just a bold imagination and unrealistic. Longyou Grottoes should be a miracle created by human beings on earth.
H. Taoist bliss said. This is also inconsistent with historical facts. Taoism originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty, while Longyou Grottoes were carved before the Eastern Han Dynasty, which is inconsistent with history. In addition, the Taoist Elysium should be chosen in famous mountains and rivers, high and deep places, such as Wudang Mountain in Hubei Province, a holy place of Taoism. Moreover, since the Han Dynasty, Longyou has always been the seat of county governance, with a dense population.
First, Long Fu's theory of water control. Critics believe that Qujiang was often flooded in ancient times, which led to the poverty of people on both sides of the strait. The purpose of digging these grottoes is to "give the Dragon King a nest and stop him from making waves", which is harmful to life. But from a scientific point of view, grottoes have nothing to do with water control.
J. the theory of hiding soldiers-that is, the theory of combat readiness base is more convincing than the above, and it is supported by certain historical materials and documents. The theory of Tibetan soldiers was put forward by Mr. Yang Hongxun, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a consultant to UNESCO and the president of the History Branch of China Architectural Society. It is inspired by Mr. Fei Xiaotong's "crystallization of planned labor under the power organization" and is a concrete expression of his own article "A bird is gone when it is hit". But what the Tibetan soldiers said can't be explained is that it took 22 years to prepare for the restoration of the country. The so-called "ten years of reunion, ten years of lessons" did not destroy Wu until 22 years (473 BC). It is obviously unrealistic to secretly prepare for hiding soldiers and opening caves for 22 years. In other words, it is impossible to dig caves overnight. If it takes such a long time to dig caves and train for such a long time, isn't it a waste and consumption of the already weak national strength? Therefore, Mr. Yang himself said that this is only a preliminary speculation based on the architectural shape, excavation traces and other remains and some documents at hand, and it cannot be used as a conclusion until more reliable evidence is found.
There is no end to exploration.
Yes, when human beings explore the world in which they live, they find many unexplained mysteries: from the extinction of dinosaurs to the appearance of the "water monster" in Loch Ness, from the pyramids of Egypt to the mysterious circle of English wheat fields ... the mystery of nature and history, waiting for human beings to decipher. For human beings, "mystery" always has infinite temptation, and human beings are always feeling this strange world step by step in the process of continuous exploration.
Longyou Grottoes is no exception.