Csővári No 1 Cave

Csővári No 1 Cave is among the specially protected caves of Hungary. It is located in the Cserhát Mountains within the Danube–Ipoly National Park. Archaeological and paleontological finds have been recovered from it.

Description

The cave’s two entrances are situated on the outer area of Csővár, on the southern side of Vár Hill, about 15 m below the castle ruin standing on the summit. Here the mountain’s Triassic limestone formation is thick‑bedded (20–30 cm). The layers dip 20–40° to the east. The area around the two cave entrances is tectonically pre‑formed, with fracture lines filled with crystalline calcite. The entrances of Csővári No 2 Cave are located about 50 m east of Csővári No 1 Cave, about 10 m lower.

The cave consists of two chambers that are situated one above the other. The entrance to the lower (larger) chamber is fox‑hole‑shaped, with an area of about 0.25 m². Near the entrance there are also ceiling‑type dissolution forms, on some places covered with stalactite and draperite deposits. Behind the entrance there is a single larger chamber also decorated with dissolution forms, whose western wall has prepared stratigraphic plates. The ceiling is covered with primitive stalactite formations, and on the side walls some draperite formations can be observed.

From this chamber a smaller, debris‑filled chamber can be reached to the east, whose floor is split along a small crack. On the northern side wall of the chamber some dissolution forms are also observable. The upper chamber is much smaller than the lower chamber. A small spherical niche can be reached by climbing up the wall in a cluster. On the wall there are a few characteristic spherical stalactites. The stalactite coating on the walls here is also thin. The lower and upper chambers are probably connected with a larger chamber that was destroyed earlier.

In 1984 the cave was first called Csővári 1st cave in the literature. The cave also appears in the literature under the names Csővári I. cave (Bertalan 1976), Csővári Vár-hegy-cave (Bertalan, Schőnviszky 1976), Uhu cave (Bertalan 1976) and Uhubarlang (Patay 1932). The word uhu appears in its name because Patay Pál saw an owl bat in the cave.

Research history

The 22 August 1931 issue of Pesti Napló writes that on the D side of Vár-hegy, next to the Csővári estate of Baron Prónay, directly under the old castle ruins, there is a cave that, because of its inaccessibility, no one had known until now. The cave was discovered by Patay Pál while hunting, and he then performed a test excavation in it. Now Gaál István, an employee of the National Museum, went to the site to professionally direct further excavations. Gaál István determined that the previous excavations took place among the broken parts of the former uppermost cave, where the prehistoric man lived last. It can be stated without doubt that many thousands of years ago prehistoric man inhabited the cave.

The cave has several small side chambers that were used for various purposes: they were the prehistoric man's weapon storages, living chambers and sleeping places. Each chamber is about 4.5 m long, 3 m wide and 2 m high. Among the finds, the most valuable so far is a diluvial woolly rhinoceros bone. Beside it, prehistoric rhinoceros baby bones, as well as bones of a reindeer and an arctic hare belonging to the Ice Age fauna, were also found. No stone tools were recovered because everything was covered by debris, and tools are always found at ground level. However, among the bone fragments there were conspicuously many bones pierced into a spear‑point shape, which the prehistoric man used for skin piercing.

The 1932 Scientific Bulletin mentions that in the spring of 1931, on the suggestion of Jenő Hillebrand, Patay Pál searched for the prehistoric dwelling of Patay Pál on the side of Vár Hill D in Csővár, facing Ördög-árok. On the steep limestone side of the hill, at the foot of a rock wall, about 15 m below the summit, Patay Pál found a ear‑shaped depression, which he later named Uhubarlang during the excavations because a pair of cave bears had nested there a few years earlier. The stone “ear” was about 4 m high, 4 m long and 3 m wide. Because of its shape and position it seemed that an Ice Age human had been drawn into it. Therefore Patay Pál thought that it would be a place to search for prehistoric tools and bones. In 1931 he excavated the stone “ear” three times, the last time for two days, under the direction of István Gaál.

During the excavations Patay Pál observed three layers (Fig. 3). Layer 1 is a humus layer 30–35 cm thick. Layer 2 is a dark‑yellow, stone‑debris layer 30–35 cm thick. Layer 3 consists of stone debris of unknown thickness. In layer 3 the gaps between the stones were filled with light‑yellow earth. In some places the 2nd and 3rd layers could not be distinguished from each other. It is clear that stone debris entered the stone “ear” because there was once a cave where the present stone “ear” is now. In the Ice Age (as the yellow earth proves) the front part of the cave ceiling collapsed and filled the cave floor. According to István Gaál, the detached ceiling mass was about 100 m³. During the excavation on 7–8 August 1931 Patay Pál’s team began to remove the ceiling on the cave’s walking level. About 40 m³ has been removed so far.

In layers 2 and 3 various animal bones were found, which according to István Gaál are the remains of the following species: woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), horse (Equus caballus), cattle (Bos taurus), red deer (Cervus elaphus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), wildcat (Felis silvestris), Pleistocene ground squirrel (?) (Citellus cf. citelloides), hamster (Cricetus cricetus) and arctic hare (?) (Lepus timidus). In addition, bones of bats, birds and frogs (Bufo) were recovered. Among the listed bones there are some that were broken by humans. The fact that humans once entered the cave is also evidenced by the presence in layer 3 of Cerithium pauli and a fragmentary Nassa shell. Their nearest occurrence is at Acsán, in a sandy marine sediment, from which only humans could have carried them to the Vár Hill, which lies almost 200 m higher.