"Much of the information I have gathered over the years clearly points to the mountain's importance during the Stone Age. Many of the artifacts we've discovered can be dated at between 6000 to 3000BC," Leu explained. "But obviously more extensive research is not going to happen unless serious excavation work at the sites is undertaken. A radar scan of the area would be nice, but such a venture would prove very expensive."
Unexplained phenomena
Although one of the few people to undertake such lengthy research, Leu has managed to steer clear of the controversy that has plagued Lin and Ho. Leu readily admits that although he suspects the pyramid was a Ketagalan burial site, the lack of conclusive evidence means that he has kept an open mind.
"There's really no way to tell, which of course only adds to the mystery," admitted Leu. "Is it a natural hillock caused by volcanic activity? Or was it built by early man? Or, and as quite a few people believe, was it in fact built by or for aliens?"
Stranger still is the ancient megalith that sits in an equally out-of-the-way part of Yangmingshan National Park, a rock formation that is 3m in height by 1m in diameter. Historians, archeologists and even ufologists have long been divided as to when and by whom this rock formation was erected. Although there is scant evidence as to the site's original use, historians such as Lin think that the site was an altar where the Ketagalan worshipped their long-forgotten gods.
"As you can see the rocks have been shaped and put together so as to represent two gigantic beasts meeting head on," Lin explained. "We haven't found human bones in the area, however, which is why we can safely presume that it was built by the Ketagalan peoples who I believe didn't hold human sacrifices. If it predated them to the Nandao peoples (南島民族) say, then there would certainly be fossilized human remains of some kind in the area."
This isn't the only theory on the origins of the rock formation. Others think it is a clear message to beings on distant planets.
"When ancient peoples sat down to create art they drew what they saw in front of them. There was no need for imagination. If they saw an animal they drew it and so on," Lin said. "Looking at these carvings in wood, which have been officially dated to the Ketagalan period, it's obvious that UFOs were spotted and their presence was recorded by Stone Age peoples."
Other such Ketagalan carvings reportedly depict radio waves and strange individuals wearing outlandish and somewhat alien-looking headgear.
While the Yangmingshan megaliths continue to attract most of the attention, 100m down in the murky waters off the coast of Penghu's Hujingchen Island (澎湖-虎井沈) lays the most puzzling of all of Taiwan's ancient structures.
First discovered in 1982 by a Japanese research team, the underwater structure resembles a gigantic cross and measures over 100m in length and 1m in depth. Since its initial discovery, however, local divers have ceased to research the underwater edifice. As with the nation's land-based megaliths and mysterious carved rocks, Ho and Lin believe the reasons behind the choice to ignore it are based on a refusal to go against the grain.
"Putting it simply they're scared. They're scared to admit that maybe the history books are all wrong. And they're equally scared to bring into question our hows and whys," argued Ho. "After all, proving that we didn't in fact originate from China, but instead from Taiwan would irk a lot of people, especially Beijing. And I'm sure they are scared to this."
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