The Find of the Past

The Huashan Mysterious Grottos, located in the suburb of Huangshan City in Anhui Province, is the largest and most marvelous remains of an ancient man-made cavern in China. The cave is very spacious with many peculiar structures inside. Layers of walls create complex bifurcating paths in parts of the cave, while gigantic stone columns cover other parts of the cave. Moreover, no murals, writings or Buddha engravings have been found in the cave. Hence, the origin of the Huashan Mysterious Grottos is shrouded in mystery and puzzles archeologists.

Several years ago, Huangshan City had encouraged archeologists, geologists, explorers, as well as the general public to examine the cave. Whoever could uncover the year Huashan Mysterious Grotto was constructed and its purpose would receive a generous reward, according to an article in the Hong Kong-based Takungpao newspaper. Chamber 35 of the cave contains an underground palace entirely constructed by humans, and it is currently the largest ancient cavern in China. The chamber is 558 feet deep and 59 feet tall. There are 26 stone columns arranged in a glyph-like formation to support the ceiling of the palace. Throughout the palace there are rooms, beds, bridges and pavilions carved ingeniously from stone. In addition, there are several deep ancient underground water ponds that still contain water clear enough to see to the bottom. The lowest water level in the cavern is 7 feet below the Xin'an River outside the cave.

There are three mysteries surrounding the Huashan Mysterious Grotto. First is the Bishui Pond, which is an underground pond so deep that three months of pumping would be insufficient to remove all the water from it. Second are the stone columns, which are over 33 feet tall and are arranged in a glyph-like formation to support the ceiling of the cavern. The orientation of the columns suggests the ancients' knowledge in theoretical mechanics and in its precise application. Lastly, this gigantic cavern is echo-free as the arrangement of the walls prevents resonance of sound.
The exact time of the cave's construction is currently unknown. However, according to the minerals found inside the cave, the experts estimate that it was constructed at least 1,700 years ago.

How was the cavern constructed? Why was it necessary to have these caves? What happened to the 100 thousand squares of rocks dug in order to construct the cavern? How were they mined and transported? The caves have a few already mined minerals, so why were those not transported out? There are also many rock walls 10 centimeters thick, why was it not removed but left standing in the middle of the large hall? What was the purpose of the squared and rounded holes hidden in the stone columns? Why are there no historical records of this gigantic cavern? Experts have postulated many theories but have yet to reach a definitive answer.