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The Delmass/Dalmas Cave is the last extant military site dating back to the late Middle Ages in Jebbet Bsharri.

This article was originally published in the Speleological Lebanon Magazine "Bulletin of the Lebanese Association for Speleological Studies - Issue 5 / March 1998", pp. 241-247.

Exploration team

In 1995, an exploration team consisting of Fadi Baroudi who would become the president of the Lebanese Association for Speleological Studies, Father Abdo Badawi, Boutros Abi Aoun, Patricia Antaki, Falah Waqeem, Paul Khawaja, Shafiq Ghazala, Alan Maroun, Father Karam Rizk, Father Youssef Tannous, and Pascal Salameh.

The site consits of two caves: the Greater Cave, and the Lesser Cave, located to the west and a few hundred meters away from the larger one.

The Greater Dalmas cave is situated at an elevation of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) on a rocky cliff about 100 metres (330 ft) high known as Shir al-Dalmas or ad-Dalmaz. The cave mouth is a massive natural triangular northeast-facing cleft about 30 metres (98 ft) high. It opens onto a natural gallery with chambers and room-like cavities, and in the center. A man-made construction composed of several levels occupies the center. On the sides of the cleft are several small niches that were used as supports for wooden beams, rock-carved stairs, and enlarged openings integrated into the architectural ensemble. At the end of the cleft, there is a small gallery about 30 metres (98 ft) long.

History

In 1477, Sultan Al-Ashraf Qaitbay passed with his entourage along this road and under the cave on his way from Baalbek to Tripoli.(see "Al-Qawl al-Mustazraf fi Safar Maulana al-Malik al-Ashraf" by Ibn al-Jayyan, edited by Dr. Omar Abdul Salam Tadmouri, Jirus Press, Tripoli 1984).

Importance

The cave occupies a strategic location, overlooking the ancient caravan route that connected the coastal city of Tripoli coast through the mountains of Lebanon to the Bekaa valley and Damascus, which may explain the military nature of its architectural design. It is the only military site dating back to the late Middle Ages remaining in Jebbet Bsharri.

Description of the Subterranean Structures

References

• Baroudi, Fadi (1998). "Delmass - Fortified Cave | GERSL : Speleology : Lebanon". GERSL. Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
• Frangieh, Toni (2014). "مغارة الدلماس حصن معلّق تثير هندسته الحيرة \r\nموقع عسكري وحيد وصامد في جبّة بشري منذ القرون الوسطى" [The Delmas Cave, a suspended fortress, puzzles with its architecture. A solitary and steadfast military site in Jubbat Bsharri since the Middle Ages.]. annahar.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2024. Retrieved 2024-03-04.