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Quri Qaleh Cave

The 16th longest cave in the world

12km · Length

Quri Qala Cave or QuraQala (Kurdish: Şikefta QureQela) is a cave located northwest of Ravansar, Iran, and is one of the longest caves in western Asia. First explored in the 1950s, in 1989 it was further opened by an Iranian team. It contains three main chambers, with calcite crystals, stalactites and waterfalls. It is known for its colony of Mouse-eared bat, and for a number of archaeological finds, including silver vessels dating to the late Sassanian period. These silver vessels are related to the late Sasanian period and decorated with a hawk catching a bird, birds, lions and a phoenix, suggests that they were probably offered to a Mithra temple located in the cave. Sasanian and Arab-Tabarian coins have also been found in the cave. The cave might have been a Mithra temple occupied from the late Sasanian period until probably the second century Hijrah.

Cave data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).

More caves in Iran

  1. Paraw Cave751 m deep
  2. Chal Nakhjir Cave61 m deep
  3. Rudafshan Cave1.5 km
  4. Sangshekanan Cave0.4 km
  5. Bisotun Cave0 km

Other notable caves worldwide

  1. Mammoth Cave · Australia686 km
  2. Sistema Sac Actun · Mexico119.2 m
  3. Lechuguilla Cave · United States489 m
  4. Optymistychna Cave · Ukraine20 m
  5. Veryovkina Cave · Georgia2,212 m
  6. Krubera Cave · Georgia2,199 m
  7. Sarma cave · Georgia1,830 m
  8. Clearwater Cave · Malaysia109 km