Theories as to the use of the Longyou Grotto abound, but none so far are clear favourites. They could have been tombs or storage facilities or places to hide troops. But in all of those scenarios you would expect something to be left behind; a bone, a trophy, a sword, a turd. Something. But there’s nothing in there.

And guess what? Some people reckon it was aliens. Yeah good one.

To round this off let me briefly mention an interaction I had regarding another “mystery” post I recently wrote: I have a friend who is a real life, grown up archaeologist. Recently I splurged out an article about the strange ‘Band of Holes’ in Peru, which he read. Towards the end of my waffle, as I was clumsily discussing various theories to explain their origin I wrote “… I guess we’ll never know”. My archaeologist friend basically told me I was an idiot and to stop saying that. If someone were to do some proper, hard, detailed archaeological work me may well know exactly what was going on one day.

Consider me told. So, to summarise, no one knows what these massive cavernous grotto’s were for at the mo. But one day, given the right funding and effort, we may unwrap the mystery of the Longyou Grotto.

☛ Another Mystery: The Somerton Man — A Properly Weird Aussie Murder Mystery