An Approach to the Traditional Function of Kalmakare Cave

Kalmakare Cave was discovered in 1989. The ancient objects have been exhibited in the National Museum of Iran, museum of Falak-ol-Aflak, Illam, Tabriz, and international museums of Louvre, Britain, New York Metropolitan Museum, Miho Museum in Kyoto, as well as private collections. Archeologists and historians have been largely interested in Kalmakare due to a large number of golden and silver objects attributed to Kalmakare, the elegance, art, and innovative technologies of the so-called objects dating back to the local reign of Samatoureh in Neo-Elamite period. Kalmakare treasure is known as the world’s sixth largest treasures. Scholars have mainly focused on reading the inscriptions, and introduced dishware, silver human and animal sculptures, as well as golden masks, and conceptually analyzed symbolic and mythological motifs in Kalmakare. This research seeks to develop a new approach to analyze the function of the cave’s indoor and outdoor space through using a historical-analytical method with reference to Kalmakare’s etymology. In doing so, this paper is an attempt to understand whether Kalmakare has been the place for the treasure of Smatoureh local rulers or Achaemenid kings; and whether Kalmakare have served the ritual function such as Mithraism due to its human geography. So far, no similar research has been conducted in this area. Thus, testing the Mithraism hypothesis of Kalmakare requires a deep reflection on Loni Deger views. Hence, the present research  is an investigation of the ritual function of Kalmakare.