| Official Name: | Ravansar |
| Native Name: | Persian: روانسر |
| Settlement Type: | City |
| Pushpin Map: | Iran |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Iran |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Kermanshah |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Ravansar |
| Subdivision Type3: | District |
| Subdivision Name3: | Central |
| Population As Of: | 2016 |
| Population Total: | 24527 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone: | IRST |
| Utc Offset: | +3:30 |
| Timezone Dst: | IRDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +4:30 |
| Coordinates: | 34.7156°N 46.6519°W |
| Coordinates Footnotes: | [1] |
Ravansar (Persian: روانسر) is a city in the Central District of Ravansar County, Kermanshah province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district.[2]
Ravansar has important prehistoric and historical sites, and in this respect, it has a special place in the archaeology of the west of Iran. The earliest evidence of human habitation around Ravansar extends back to the Middle Paleolithic that continues to the end of the glacial period (at least from about 50,000 years to 12,000 years ago), whose remains were found in the caves of the Kulian and Jawri, as well as the Garab River (Awi Kher).[3] Another important discovery in the region is an elephant molar tooth that dates back to the Pleistocene era and has been discovered near Ravansar. Other important archaeological site is the Musaei mound and its two nearby smaller mounds, it has been inhabited since the end of the Neolithic period (about 8,000 years ago).
In the course of the Assyrian campaigns into Zagros, Ravansar was one of the bases of this Mesopotamian government that called Nikour, and it was used as a military base in which Assyrian soldiers gathered horses and other goods that were sent to Assyria.[4] Stronach and Calmeyer proposed Ravansar as a possible candidate for the place of Bit-Istar, an Assyrian town and a local kingdom (c. 12th century BC - c. 710 BC) at western Zagros.[5] The rock-cut tomb of Ravansar or Dekhmeh Rawansar, which local people call "Kōshk", is located in the eastern face of limestone rock in the northeast of Ravansar, which dates back to Achaemenid period.[6] The tomb consists of a small chamber that opens to the east and overlooks the slope. The figure of Ahura Mazda, a person, and mass of firewood appears on the right side of the entrance to this tomb. There is also a pillar base next to the Goni Khani Spring, called "Takhti Zangi", which may have been created at the same time as the tomb, indicating the presence of a palace or smaller buildings near the spring.[7] Therefore, during the Achaemenid period, Ravansar was probably one of the important centers of this government in the west of the country. In the Parthian period, Ravansar was a small town in the west of the present town which today is close to a spring called Kani Wayan (near the police station). From the Sassanid period, a collection of silverware has been discovered in Quri Qala Cave. There was also a cemetery from the Safavid period on the northern slopes of Qola Mount. The gravestones exhibiting the Kofi scripts, which unfortunately have been looted or broken in recent decades. This Safavid cemetery shows the importance of Ravansar in the Safavid period.
Ravansar seems to have been a large village during the Safavid period. There was a cemetery from the Safavid period with tombstones with inscriptions in Kufic script on the northern slopes of Qoleh rock, which has been destroyed or looted in recent years. Ravansar was also part of the territory of Ardalan rulers during the 19th centurey. The name Ravansar was first mentioned in written sources about 400 years ago in Sharafnama, in which Ravansar is mentioned as the possessions of the Dar-Tang rulers.[8]
Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda who was a prominent Iranian linguist and lexicographer described Ravansar in the 1960s as follows. "The central town of Ravansar is part of Sanandaj, and next to the Kermanshah-Paveh highway and the southeastern promontory of Shahu Mountain. It has a cold climate, but due to numerous springs, there are many swamps and sludges in the summer. There is a clinic in the town that is always ready to receive patients. The district offices, the finance agency, the statistics, the checkpoint, the armed customs guard, and the gendarmerie are located in the town and it has one primary school and eight shops. Its main products are grains, fruits, rice, and dairy products, and there is a daily commute between this town and Kermanshah."[9]
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 16,383 in 3,838 households.[10] The following census in 2011 counted 21,250 people in 5,609 households.[11] The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 24,527 people in 7,122 households.[12]
There are several shrines near Ravansar as follows: