Introduction to historical Caves of Kermanshah Province

Extracted from Rasekhoon
Markhul Cave
This cave is located on the slopes of Bisotun Mountain, five hundred meters from residential houses. This cave is over twenty-seven meters wide facing Bisotun plain. In 1965, the cave was excavated by Philippe Smith. The works obtained from this cave are, respectively, dating back to the following:
- Thick blades dating back to forty thousand years ago.
- Engraving tools, blades and cobblestones on lower era of new Paleolithic period.
- Micro-blade of the Epipalaeolithic period.
The mentioned works of this layer represent Neolithic period without pottery and Neolithic period with pottery. The works of the Neolithic with pottery include rough pottery with crushed straw, which is famous for the hollow pottery.
Of the fifty-six animal bone samples obtained from this cave, two hundred and forty belonged to goats and sheep. This indicates that Central Zagros has been one of the primary centers for domestication of these two animals. The latest artifacts from the Markhul Cave belong to the Sassanid era.
Martarik Cave
This cave is located on the slopes of Bisotun Mountains and in the northwest part of the Markhul Cave. The cave is 25 meters deep and about 80 square meters in size. The cave is in the form of a long and narrow passage that leads to a relatively open area at the end. The mouth of the cave is toward the southeast.
The objects identified from this cave, which are most often found in end of the cave, are more rocky artifacts including mother rocks, scrapers, punches, chisels, and conical tools. The rocky tools derived from this cave are also part of the Mousterian period.
Shekarchian Cave
This cave is located on the slopes of Bisotun Mountain in a little distance from the statue of Hercules. In the excavations that took place in 1949 in the cave, about twenty-two thousand things were found including pottery, stone tools and bone pieces of animals such as deer, gazelle, wild cow, leopard, jackal, boar, and red foe and a part of the bone of Neanderthal man's. Two pieces of pottery belonged to the Assyrian period, and the rest were Achaemenid pottery. Moreover, rock tools are from upper Neolithic era, about forty thousand years ago.
Mardudar cave
This cave is located in the Bisotun Mountain and in the north-east of the Shekargh cave. The cave is 20 meters deep and about one hundred and seventy square meters in size. The height of the cave is between one and three meters. The cave has two mouths. The main mouth is in the south-southwest direction facing a hilly and narrow valley leading to an abyss. The other mouth of the cave is in the direction of east-south-east, facing the road leading to the caves of Maraftab and Martarik.
The tools identified from the cave include retouching tools, rock masses, side scrapers, conical cutters, and punctures, tools derived from the cave date back to Mousterian and Zarzain eras.
Maraftab Cave
This cave is located on the slopes of Bisotun Mountains and is located between the caves of Martarik and Mardudar. The cave is twenty-six meters long and its mouth is in northeast. The area of the cave is one hundred and sixty meters and its mouth is about six meters high and gradually decreases its height. The rocks identified from the cave are "Chert" and "Heliotrope", and are more often seen as simple cutlery, scraps, and mother rocks. The stone tools include scrapers and punctures. In addition to rocky artifacts, in the cave floor there is also a bone tool that is in the form of a triangle. In the lower part of this tool there are three holes. One of these holes is on the edge of the tool.
Unfortunately, the use of this bone fragment is unclear. The rock tools identified from the cave also date back to Mousterian period.
Varvasi Cave (stone shelter)
This rocky shelter is located in eleven kilometers from northeast of Kermanshah, on the slopes of Mount Massim and in the famous valley called Tang Kenesht. This shelter was speculated in the 1960. The works obtained from this speculation in the order of age from old to new be as follows:
- carving tools and serrated tools of the middle ages of Paleolithic.
- Engraving tools, abrasives, retouched blades and head arches of the lower Paleolithic era.
- Mother rocks, blades, hammer, engraving pen of Epipalaeolithic.
According to research, this rocky shelter was a good place for temporary hunters to settle. This is confirmed by animal artifacts. Among the animal bones tested, there were many bone remnants of animals, such as zebras, goats, and sheep, wild boar and hyenas. In addition, some bones of small rodents, such as mole and rabbits, were also found among bone remnants.
Do Eshkaft Cave
One of the oldest human settlements in Kermanshah is Do Eshkaft Cave near Taq Bostan. This ancient site - including two nearby caves - is located on the southern slopes of the Mouleh Mountain, about 300 meters from the plain and facing the mountainous park. According to archaeological studies, one of these two caves (the Eastern Cave) was the temporary or seasonal residence of occupational groups living in the area during Middle Paleolithic.
These hunter groups, probably of the Neanderthal type, have consistently used the cave, taking into account the various advantages of this place, including the presence of a permanent spring near the cave, the proper view of the openings and relatively easy access to higher elevations. The existence of a geologic outcrop by material of Radio Lerit near the cave made it possible to build rocky tools in place.
So that most of the stone tools found locally are of this type. In addition, the sources of rock in the plain were also used. For example, the sources of rock of "Gakieh" hills in the east of Kermanshah, about 12 kilometers away from the cave, are among the found collections. The instruments found in Do Eshkaft are often of the type of side scraper and other tools are related to Zagros Mousterian industry, which have been prevalent in Zagros between two hundred and fifty to forty thousand years ago. The works of the Middle Paleolithic period have been found in other caves of the area, such as the "Ghabe" cave, and the rocky sanctuary in Kenesht Valley and several other caves in Bisotun.
Studies in the Middle Paleolithic of Kermanshah show that the inhabitants of these caves were mostly hunting mountain goats, wild ewes, zebra and wild horses. Of course, other animals such as Maral, wild cow, gazelles and hogs were also hunted.
Quri Qala Cave
This cave is located in 25 km of northeast of Paveh city, on the slopes of Shahu Mountain. Quri Qaleh Cave is the largest Asian Water Cave, and so far 3140 meters of it has been identified. Multiple waterfalls, crystal icicles, chalky diagonal pillars, water basins, stalagmites and stalactites are the attractions of this cave. The existence of dense forests with species of oak, mountain figs, mountain sours, wild almonds, as well as animals such as wolves, foxes, pigs, rabbits and goats around the cave have given it a special look. Approximately 400 square meters of this cave have been illuminated, and every day, many viewers visit this cave.