I find this very interesting. But the rush to declare it Buddhist strikes me as mistaken.
Who would you attribute it to then if not buddhists? Disciples of Confucius? I've always liked Confucianism being that it is only a system of ethics based upon man's nature as a social being, not upon religion. It postulates nothing.
But, it is also incorrect to say that Confucius was an irreligious man. Confucious did believe in God, the most common designation of Him in his teachings being the term "heaven" or the "creator of things."
The Confucian system is not just a testimony to the intellects power of drawing inferences of the Divine from the external universe...everything in Confucianism was prepatory..looked forward to something which would complete it.
IMO, that completion came upon Christ's birth, that all things might be re-established in Him.
Buddhism originated 2,500 years ago. Depending on the age of the cave it's possible. The article doesn't tell much about what else they may have found.
What is more mysterious is that a clear pool was discovered under the kang, but archaeologists could find no trace of a spring in the stone floor.
Very interesting and too cool!
One of the interesting things in Archaeology is how modern man constantly has been underestimating previous man and how previous man keeps proving them wrong.
In a way reminds me of the liberal elite who forgot that there is wisdom in history and who now believe they evolved to some kind of higher plain and are able to solve all the world's problems by using massive governments.
Hopefully we'll prove them wrong too. (Before it's too late.) ( Don't feel like waiting a few hundred years. Call me impulsive.)