To investigate the quarry theory, some experts decided to research it from the other angle: If the grottoes are quarries, then where did their stones go?

When the experts went to Shiyanbei Village, they found almost all the village's constructions were built of stones, which are of the same nature as that in the Longyou Grottoes. However, even if all the stones in the village were combined, they make up only a fraction of the stones in the grottoes.

The experts later found a related record in Longyou County Annals, which said the stones from Longyou were once used to build the city walls in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Then do the construction materials of the city walls come from the Longyou Grottoes?

In a corner of the county seat, the experts found a section of the ancient city walls, but the stones were not of the same quality as that of the Longyou Grottoes. A closer look even shows the traces of the Chinese characters "official bricks." Is it because the city walls had been repaired later and the original had been buried?

The experts continued to search, and they found some older walls. After they removed the mosses, they surprisingly discovered some stones that are same as those from the grottoes. However, they still could not conclude that these stones were from the grottoes. And even if they were from the grottoes, they made up only a small fraction. According to historical records, the Ming city walls used about 50,000 cubic meters of stones, but the Longyou Grottoes have nearly 900,000 cubic meters of stones evacuated. Where did the majority of the stones go?

When the experts finished their research in the county seat and went back to Shiyanbei Village by boat, they noticed that the Longyou County is on the village's upper reach, which means the stones used to build the city walls should have been ferried against the current to the county. But this does not seem necessary considering that stone is not a rare resource in the region.

(Author: Jeff)

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