16 Mysterious Ancient Buildings and Structures from Around the World

16. Longyou Caves. The mysterious man-made grottos of China found in ‘bottomless’ ponds.

Considered to be the “ninth wonder of the ancient world” by the Chinese, the Longyou Caves are an unprecedented man-made phenomenon. The caves were carved by hand and discovered at the bottom of a group of ponds found in Zhejiang province. The grottos were rediscovered in 1992 when a local villager decided to drain one of the supposedly bottomless local ponds. He was amazed to discover that the pond did indeed have a limited depth -and by the hand dug cave at the bottom, that was later flooded by the pond’s waters.

Neighboring ponds were similarly drained- and other caverns were revealed. Eventually, 27 grottos were discovered in all, containing rooms, bridges and pools. The largest grotto covers an area of 21,5000 square feet and is 98 feet tall, resembling a great hall. All the grottos were found to be close together, in some cases separated by only a thin rock wall. The precision and planning that went into their construction were incredible. Pillars were evenly distributed about each cave to support the ceilings and walls. Those walls and stone columns were also carved with animals such as horses, fishes and birds.

The Longyou grottos represented one of the largest underground excavations of ancient times. Yet no written records have been discovered recording their constructions. There is no sign locally of spoil hills made from the thousands of tones of soil and rock that must have been created when excavating the caves. Nor have any tools been found. As a result, No one can explain why they were made– or indeed, who made them.

Where do we get this stuff? Here are our sources:

10 Mysterious Ancient Buildings, Ben Gazur, Listverse, November 24, 2016

12 of the World’s Most Mysterious Monuments & Ruins, S A Rogers, Web Urbanist

10 Most Mysterious Man Made Structures From Ancient Times, Vinod, Listamaze

BBC Travel – An Immense Mystery Older Than Stonehenge

Live Science – The World’s Oldest Temple Was Built Along a Grand Geometric Plan

Google Arts & Culture – Where Giants Dare to Build

ORKNEYJAR – The Discovery of The Skara Brae

Stuff UK & Ireland – Skara Brae, Scotland: The Mystery of The UK’s Own Pompeii

BBC News – Stonehenge: Did the Stone Circle Originally Stand in Wales?

Heritage Daily – Nemrut – The Mountain Tomb

Brewminate – Mount Nemrut: Ancient Meeting Place between East and West