Taking a free-standing stone cave dwelling in Jingle county， Shanxi province as the prototype， the 1/4 scale test model with three spans was manufactured and carried out by shaking table test. The failure process and failure pattern of cave dwelling un? der earthquake action were analyzed. Based on the test， the finite element analysis （FEA） model of free-standing stone cave dwell? ing was established by using ABAQUS. The dynamic characteristic， dynamic response and seismic damage， which were obtained by simulation， were compared with test results to verify the rationality of the FEA model. And then the FEA models of prototype structures were established， and the influence of soil thickness， number of arch spans and rise span ratio on the mechanical perfor? mance of cave dwelling was analyzed. The results showed that the main failure of free-standing stone cave dwelling under earth? quake action was the cracking of mortar joint， and the most serious cracking failure occurred at the vaults of cave dwelling entrance and the connection between side walls and back wall. The simulation results agreed well with the test results， which can better re? flect the mechanical performance of cave dwelling under earthquake action. The stiffness of longitudinal wall was larger than that of horizontal wall. The acceleration and displacement responses of cave dwelling increased with the increasing of input peak accelera? tion. As the decreasing of soil thickness and rise span ratio， the seismic performance of cave dwelling could be improved， but the in? fluence of number of arch spans was insignificant.