In eastern China reservoir due to a renovation project they lowered the water level, and there it was a mysterious 600-year-old Buddha statue.
The reservoir, also known as Zuixian Lake, was built in 1958 and has a water storage volume of 1.2 billion cubic meters.
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) January 13, 2017
A local villager in Jiangxi province first spotted the half-submerged head of the Buddha sitting against a cliff.
A hydro-power gate renovation project in the Hongmen Reservoir, Nangchenc County, was responsible for the 10-metre drop in the water levels.
Xu Changging, head of the provincial research institute of archaeology, said the sunken statue, which is 12.5 ft (3.8 m) tall, could date back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
Researchers also uncovered rectangular holes carved on the cliff which could point to an wider, uncharted archaeological discovery. A base of a hall was found under the water, suggesting that a temple could have existed there.
Sonar equipment and underwater photographs will be used to get basic data for further research.
It was well preserved because it was submerged in the water for a long time.
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) January 15, 2017
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) January 10, 2017