Karain Cave

Karain is one of the most important prehistoric sites in Turkey: a natural cave at about 430 metres in a limestone cliff above the Antalya plain, some 27 kilometres north-west of the city, with deposits many metres deep, excavated since the 1940s, containing a sequence of human occupation running from the Lower Palaeolithic through the Neolithic and into historic periods - hundreds of thousands of years of intermittent use in one place. Stone tools, animal bones, hearths and human remains including a Neanderthal skull fragment, dated to some 150,000 to 200,000 years ago, have come out of it. The cave itself is three connected chambers, dry and airy, entered up a stepped path from the road with a good view over the plain from the mouth. A small museum at the foot of the path displays finds, stratigraphy sections and explanations of the dig. Greek inscriptions and carvings in the rock in front of the entrance point to a religious use in later antiquity. It is not a show cave - the halls have some dripstone but nothing on a show-cave scale - and the interest is above all archaeological.

Highlights

• The three chambers - the dry cave system in the cliff.
• The excavation sections - the dig faces showing the layers.
• The site museum - tools, bones and finds from the cave.
• The plain view - the Antalya basin from the entrance.

When to go

April to June and September to October. Mornings; the climb up is short but exposed. The cave stays cool inside.

Practical notes

It is not a show cave - no lighting displays or formations, and the appeal is the archaeology. The path up is stepped and steep. Labelling is largely Turkish. A car is needed.

Nearby

Termessos is on the same road out of Antalya; the city and Kaleiçi are 27 km south-east.

Key facts