Dahan-i- Ghar, Karukh

Various descriptions

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

An impressive, sacred rock shelter (note 1) used by Muslims as a temple cave, complete with a built in mosque and ancient inscriptions (ZESTOVSKI 1949: 1-25), is situated south-east of Karukh (note 2) at the village of Dahan-i- Ghar (note 3) and at a distance of about 3 km along a secondary road from a roadside hamlet Qal'eh Safed / Qal'ehye Safed (Black Castle) on the main road from Herat (40 km) via Pala Piri (note 4) to Karukh (5 km). The entrance lies at an elevation of 1310 m asl (note 5) and some 30 m above the valley floor in the hill called Koh Devandar (note 6). CAVE DESCRIPTION: Resting on a base of red coloured quartzite opens the large sized rock shelter in conglomerate with an horizontal ceiling. LINDBERG (1958: 143) says a description of this cave is found in ZESTOVSKI (1949) who gives an engraving (opposite page 6) of this cave (entrance?). CAVE CONTENTS: There is a 5 by 3 m large pool of water, not deeper than 30 cm, and tiny inlets and springs fed by oozing water ourish five or six small pools in the half-dark parts of the shelter. CAVE CLIMATE: Air temperature in the entrance 21°C (1957.09.04), in the daylight lit part 25.5°C (1959.06.26), in the dark constriction behind the mosque 17°C (1959.06.26). Water temperature in the big pool 12°C (1957.09.04) and again 12°C (1959.06.26). CAVE LIFE: LINDBERG (1958: 124) recorded and collected Oligochaeta, Isopoda, Diplopoda, Chilopoda, Collembola, Machilida, Coleoptera (Carabiqua, Ptinida), Hemiptera heteroptera (larvae), Lepidoptera (-Noctuelles-, Gelechiida), Diptera (Borborida), Arachnida (Araneida), Pseudoscorpions, and Cyclopida. JUBERTHIE & DECU (2001: 1745, 1747) list: Crustacea: Copepoda: Canthocamptidae: Attheyella crassa G.O. SARS; Oligochaeta: Lumbrichidae: Allobophora rosea Savigny and Oligochaeta: Lumbrichidae: Dendrobaena byblica f. trapizoides Duges (determined by OMODEO 1959, 1962); Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetida: Megachernes afghanicus Beier; Insecta: Thysanura: Machilidae: Hmalayachilis heteropalpa Wygodzinsky; Insecta: Coleoptera: Trechinae: Trechus lindbergi Coiffait.