On the small Kalikas plateau northeast of Nithauri village, on the western slope of Psiloritis, there is another sacred cave, at an altitude of about 1200 meters with the entrance oriented to the south. It was named after the well-known French theologian-archaeologist Paule Faure, who dedicated his life to the study of the sacred caves of Crete. According to him, this particular cave functioned as a sanctuary during Minoan times and he even assumed that it received male pilgrims, herders, and hunters who worshiped here some nymph or goddess of the mountains, such as Diktynna, who was later identified with Artemis.
The cave seems to have been in use for many centuries since surface archaeological investigations have located here findings dating from the 2nd millennium BC until the Roman period. From the latter, the engraved inscription with the name “ONYM(R)CHOS” is preserved on the rock before the entrance of the cave, a unique and relatively rare finding.
