KHWAR QALEH (Cave in the)

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

This Pigeon Cave (note 1) above the stream called Khwar Qal'eh (note 2) starts with a large cave entrance (about 7 to 8 m wide and 5 to 6 m high) to a dry, solitary passage, which ascends about 28 vertical metres (measured by barometer?) to the dark zone at the top. SITUATION: At a distance of about 1.5 km without orientation from Jalala (note 3) and in a small ravine (apparently the Khwar Qaleh / Qalèh) in the marble above the right (western) bank of Kunar River. The cave entrance itself lies in a rocky slope about 45 m above the level of the water (in the ravine or in the river?).CAVE CLIMATE: The cave must function as a heat trap (in German: Backofenhöhle). LINDBERG (1958: 138; 1961a: 26) notes a difference of air temperatures ranging from about 15°C at the entrance to perhaps 27 or 28°C at the topmeasured on 2nd February 1958. CAVE LIFE: LINDBERG (1958: 138, 1961a: 26) noticed an abundance of bird droppings and LINDBERG (1958: 138) records to have collected Blattida, Hymenoptera(Ichneumonida), Coleoptera (Ptinida), Lepidoptera (Tineida), and Arachnida (Araneida). LINDBERG (1961a: 31) lists Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Biosteres sasciatus K. Hedwig; Arachnoidea: Araneina: Loxosceles refuscens Duf. and Scytodes thoracica Latr.(Ichneumonida), Coleoptera (Ptinida), Lepidoptera (Tineida), and Arachnida (Araneida). LINDBERG (1961a: 31) lists Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Biosteres sasciatus K. Hedwig; Arachnoidea: Araneina: Loxosceles refuscens Duf. and Scytodes thoracica Latr.