KAFTAR KHANA, Haibak

سمنگان‎ (ولسوالی آیبک - AF)
36.266700,67.966700
Grottocenter / carte

Description

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

Without haste it takes about two hours to explore the extensive Pigeon House Cave (note 1), which lies approximately 5 km west of Haibak (note 2) and in a hill called Kouh-Baz (note 3) by LINDBERG (1961a: 11-12). SITUATION: The cave entrance itself is situated at an elevation of 1210 m asl in the face of a marble cliff of a small gorge. COON (1957a: 231) makes the cave's situation obvious by placing it opposite of a village with white houses and about 140 m above the valley floor of a canyon in hard grey limestone. The cave entrance is difficult to reach for some: At first the path was smooth and the grade moderate, but by the time we had risen two hundred feet [60 m] we were making a fair imitation of mountain goats. At a height of four hundred feet [120 m] we came to a very perilous spot. Here the path was less than a foot wide. On the right the mountainside sloped up at an angle of forty-five degrees, and on the left was a sheer drop. CAVE DESCRIPTION: The large cave entrance leas to a spacious Main Chamber, 2 or 3 m further down, in which most of the space is occupied by a mound of fallen boulders. Still further down there is a -Lateral Chamber- with draughting chimneys (keyword: air current) climbing up to unexplored heights. The lowest point reached lies 60 (sixty) vertical metres below the entrance. Parts of the cave walls are decorated with concrétions mamelonnées [cone-shaped speleothems] but stalactites are rare and small. The floor is covered with fallen boulders and very small amounts of bat guano. The geologist Henry -Hank- W. Coulter jr. (in COON 1957a: 233) observed a dirt floor covered with huge blocks of fallen rock.CAVE CLIMATE: When an air temperature of 19°C was measured in the entrance on 17th May 1959 read the thermometer 17°C in the cold air current of the Lateral Chamber. CAVE LIFE: COON 1957a: 231) had heard that the cave is said to contain a huge skeleton. LINDBERG (1961a: 12) mentions bat guano and thus hints to Chiroptera. JUBERTHIE &DECU (2001: 1745) report from Kaftar Kaneh [sic!], Aibak Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetidae: Megachernes afghanicus Beier.DECU (2001: 1745) report from Kaftar Kaneh [sic!], Aibak Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones: Chernetidae: Megachernes afghanicus Beier.

Documents

Bibliography 06/01/2018

Histoire

EXPLORATION HISTORY: 1954.03.26: Henry 'Hank' W. Coulter jr. (geologist) and Mohammed Nader Saweri Khan (inspector of the Antiquities Department of the Ministry of Education, Kabul) visited in company with the mayor of Aybak. 1959.05.17: Knut LINDBERG (1961a: 10) visited, took altimetre readings, explored the cave, collected cave life and measured temperatures. Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

Cavités proche

Distance (km)NomLongueur (m)Profondeur (m)
3.5HAIBAK ROCK CHAMBER
5.5TAKHT-i- RUSTAM 5, Haibak Vihara (Cave at)
5.5TAKHT-i- RUSTAM 1: tunnelcave 1 (Cave at)
5.5TAKHT-i- RUSTAM 3: monolithic house (Cave at)
5.5TAKHT-i- RUSTAM 4: rock chambers (Caves at)
5.5Takht-e Rostam (Cave at) [Rudaba's Apartment Cave]
5.5TAKHT-i- RUSTAM 1: tunnelcave 2 (Cave at)
9.4KOKJAR (Cave at)
16.6KARA KAMAR, Sarqia-i- Afghania 1