M’layan Age Caves make it to UNESCO ‘tentative list for world heritage status’

In what is a matter of pride of Meghalaya, the Meghalayan Age Caves (Mawmluh, Arwah, Mawsmai and Krem Puri caves), have been included in UNESCO’s ‘tentative list for world heritage status’.
The proposal, submitted by India’s permanent delegation to UNESCO on August 27, 2025, highlights the stunning cave systems of Meghalaya, particularly the Mawmluh Cave, serve as the global reference point for the Meghalayan Age in the Holocene Epoch, reflecting significant climate and geological transitions.
A number of remarkable caves are scattered on the Shillong plateau in the northeastern state of Meghalaya. These caves have a unique signature of the Holocene time period.
In its submission, India said that the Meghalayan Age Caves are among the longest caves of their kind in the world.
“The caves are one of the few places where on-going geologic processes are most apparent and stalactites and stalagmites continue to form, enabling scientists to study geological processes and time series in a virtually undisturbed environment,” it pointed out.
The Meghalayan Age Caves are also home to some endemic species and a rare variety of fauna and rare varieties of fish species have been discovered in the caves.
UNESCO said: “There are at least 12 such caves located in the limestone rich belt of the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia Hills which are known for their unique and rare formation of stalactites and stalagmites.
However, these four caves of East Khasi hills were chosen above the others keeping in view of their size, geological features and accessibility.”
The stalactites and stalagmite formed in one of the caves i.e. Mawmluh cave has been identified as the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Meghalayan Age Stage of Holocene Series, it said.
“The evidence marker found in the rare stalactites and stalagmites found in these caves were responsible for the latest revision of the famous International Chronostratigraphic Chart with the new and current age entrant, that is, the Meghalayan age. Many of these caves are still unexplored or only partially explored and constitute an important heritage in the timescale of human history,” UNESCO said.