Daylight fades behind you as the passage narrows between layered walls of rock. Then a shaft of green light falls through an opening ahead, and forest leaves shine against the dark.

The caves

The Tharon Caves lie near Tamenglong in the forested hills of western Manipur. A plate at the entrance shows a map of the 655 m long cave system, with long passages winding through the limestone.

Stone Age finds

The Manipur State Archaeology Department first explored the caves in 1979 and returned in 1989. Finds include Mesolithic tools such as chopping tools, hand axes and querns, a pebble-tool group linked to the Hoabinhian tradition, a Stone Age culture first identified in Vietnam.

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  Cave passages 655 m in all.
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  Entrance map On a plate at the mouth.
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  Forest walk On the way to the caves.