İnicrliin Cave ( tr, İncirliin Mağarası) is a

show cave A show cave—also called tourist cave, public cave, and, in the United States, commercial cave—is a cave which has been made accessible to the public for guided visits. Definition A show cave is a cave that has been made accessible to ...

located in

Muğla Province Muğla Province ( tr, , ) is a province of Turkey, at the country's south-western corner, on the Aegean Sea. Its seat is Muğla, about inland, while some of Turkey's largest holiday resorts, such as Bodrum, Ölüdeniz, Marmaris and Fethiye, are ...

, southwestern Turkey. İncirliin Cave is situated in

Gökçeler Canyon Gökçeler Canyon ( tr, Gökçeler Kanyonu) is a canyon in Muğla Province, southwestern Turkey. The canyon is located between the villages Gökçeler and Karacahisar in Milas district of Muğla Province. It is about long. Değirmen Creek (l ...

Milas Milas ( grc, Μύλασα, Mylasa) is an ancient city and the seat of the district of the same name in Muğla Province in southwestern Turkey. The city commands a region with an active economy and very rich in history and ancient remains, the ter ...

district of Muğla Province, Turkey. It is the most significant one and the only show cave in a group of nearly 30 caves in the canyon area. It is on the northern hillside of Mount Manastır overlooking the canyon. The cave is long, however only about of it is open to tourism. It is a horizontal lying spring cave. Its forming was affected by a distinctive fault in a

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

formation. The cave has a wide entrance. It is wide and has a clearance of . It features ponds, giant

stalactite A stalactite (, ; from the Greek 'stalaktos' ('dripping') via ''stalassein'' ('to drip') is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble an ...

s and

stalagmite A stalagmite (, ; from the Greek , from , "dropping, trickling") is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites are typically ...

s. There are many rooms separated from the main gallery by stalactites. The rooms are mostly connected with each other by high passages. The "Gösteri Salonu" (literally "Show Room") in the middle of the cave is elevated below the entrance level. The "Damlataş Galerisi" ("Dripstone Gallery") at the end of the show cave, which was formed on the fault, is situated higher than the entrance level. In terms of

hydrogeology Hydrogeology (''hydro-'' meaning water, and ''-geology'' meaning the study of the Earth) is the area of geology that deals with the distribution and movement of groundwater in the soil and rocks of the Earth's crust (commonly in aquif ...

, the cave is in a

vadose zone The vadose zone, also termed the unsaturated zone, is the part of Earth between the land surface and the top of the phreatic zone, the position at which the groundwater (the water in the soil's pores) is at atmospheric pressure ("vadose" is fr ...

. It remains totally dry but becomes wet by dripping water from the cave ceiling during the rainy period. Generally, the stalactites and stalagmites in the entrance, the "Yarasa Galerisi" ("Bat Gallery"), the "Havuzlu Salon" ("Pond's Room") and the "Gösteri Salonu" are partially fossilized, while the formation of the stalactites, stalagmites, columns and draperies in the "Damlataş Galerisi" ("Dripstone Gallery") are still continuing. A great number of earthenware pieces, which are dated back to the prehistoric era and antiquity, were found in the ground at the entrance and inside the cave. By December 2016, archaeological excavations were started by the

Muğla University Muğla () is a city in southwestern Turkey. The city is the center of the District of Menteşe and Muğla Province, which stretches along Turkey's Aegean coast. Muğla's center is situated inland at an altitude of 660 m and lies at a dista ...

in the section of the cave, which is not open to the public, Human and animal bones,

stone tool A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...

s and

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, a ...

pieces were discovered. These finds show that the cave was inhabited in the ancient times already 8,000 years ago in 6000 BC. İncirliin Cave was registered as a first-grade

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

and first-grade

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

on February 27, 2008. A walking path was established on a length of nearly in the cave. The cave was fitted in 2013 with lighting that does not harm geological formations. In April 2016, a -long part of the cave was opened to the public as a show cave.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Incirliin Cave Show caves in Turkey Landforms of Muğla Province Tourist attractions in Muğla Province Archaeological sites in the Aegean Region Archaeological sites of prehistoric Anatolia Archaeological sites of ancient Anatolia Nature reserves in Turkey Protected areas established in 2008 2008 establishments in Turkey