Hosszú-tetői Cave

The Hosszú-tetői Cave is one of Hungary's specially protected caves. It is located in the Aggtelek National Park. Together with the other caves of the Aggtelek Karst and the Slovak Karst, the cave has been part of the World Heritage since 1995. It is one of the four specially protected caves of Szögliget.

Description

On the Lower Mountain, on the side of Hosszú-tető, about 500 m from Vidomáj-puszta towards É, the cave entrance is at the foot of a 6–8 m high rock wall in the base of a sinkhole. In addition to the collapse there is another sinkhole. These probably formed as a result of the cave collapse. The cave entrance is human‑height, triangular in shape and closed with an iron door. The parts beside and above the door are protected by a strong iron grate.

The Hosszú-tetői Cave, which once certainly functioned as a spring cave, formed in middle Triassic Wetterstein limestone. The entrance hall and the inner hall were created by the expansion of a single, common fissure. From the fossil, almost horizontal fissure passage of the inner hall opens the only large side branch, which immediately at the beginning splits into two. Most of the few dripstones in the entrance hall are in the process of dissolution and are damaged. In the inner hall, stalactites, straw stalactites, flowstone, stalagmite flags, stalagmite columns and stalactite waterfalls have developed.

The cave contains calcite, vermiculite, recrystallized and flowable stalagmite, a boxwork formation, and a stalactite. In the cave, stalactite formations have mainly formed as reversed crystal stalactites and probably as stalactites formed from aerosol in the shape of cauliflower. During archaeological research the cave was not accessible. Its ceiling features a rail line extending from the inner chamber to the surface, which was used for debris removal. The cave can be visited with the permission of the National Park Directorate of the Aggtelek Karst, for research purposes and with the use of electric lighting. The cave passage is traversable with basic equipment. Deer and red foxes usually visit.

From the cave, artifacts have been recovered including unglazed pottery sherds from the Neolithic, Bükk culture, gold rings belonging to the Late Bronze Age Kyjatice culture that were used as jewelry, pottery sherds, 15th‑century and 16th‑century flint arrowheads, iron hooks, a hearth, 18th‑century ceramics, and shell fragments. The artifacts are kept in the Hungarian National Museum and were exhibited at the end of 2000. In the Middle Ages it may have been used as a lookout point and served the defense of the nearby Szádvár. The finds indicate that the cave and its surroundings were formerly used as a dwelling and shelter.

Probably the name Derenki-forrásbarlang (Kordos 1984) is also the name of this cave (Gruber 2003). In 1984 the cave was first called Hosszú-tetői-barlang in the literature. The cave also occurs in the literature under the names Hosszú-hegyi-barlang (Neidenbach, Pusztay 2005), Hosszú-tetöi-barlang (Vlk 2019), Hosszútetői-barlang (Rezi-Kató 2005), Julcsa-barlang (Rezi Kató, Holl, T. Dobosi 2000), Julcsa-zsomboly (Neidenbach, Pusztay 2005) and Magos-tetői-barlang (Kraus 2005). The name Julcsa-barlang was given to the cave by Szenthe István. It became the name of the cave because of Szenthe István's daughter. The name Magos-tetői-barlang is actually one of the names of the nearby Magas-tetői-barlang.

Research history

In 1951 Jakucs László wrote about the cave without mentioning its name, stating that the cave not described in the literature is located from Derenk to É, at about 450 m above sea level. The old source cave likely contains prehistoric archaeological finds in its fill. In the 1960s it was known to a length of about 15 m. In the manuscript written by Bertalan Károly and completed in 1976 there is mention that the Hosszutetői cave is located on Alsó-hegy, Szögliget. On the D side of Hosszú-tető, from the altitude point marked 461 m, 100 m from DDK, at an altitude of 442 m above sea level, is the cave entrance. The cave is 50 m long and 1 m high. The part of the manuscript describing the cave was written based on one manuscript.

In the national cave list of the book *Caves of Hungary* published in 1984, the cave located on the Aggtelek Karst appears under the name Hosszú-tetői Cave. Associated with the list, the geographical location of the cave is shown on a 1:500 000 scale map presenting the geographical positions of the caves of the Aggtelek Karst and the Bükk Mountains. On 31 October 1993 the cave was surveyed by László Sásdi, Ágnes Guthy and Richárd Kovács, after which László Sásdi, based on the survey, compiled and drew the cave’s plan map, longitudinal section map and cross‑section map. According to the survey the cave’s length is 10.18 m, vertical extent 4.7 m, height 3.1 m, depth 1.6 m, and horizontal extent also 10.18 m. Since 1995 the Hosszú-tetői Cave has been part of the World Heritage. In the thesis prepared by Attila Nyerges in 1997, the Hosszú-tetői Cave is mentioned among the flood caves and spring caves of the Hungarian part of the Alsó-hegy. In 1999 the blocked, narrow passage connecting the cave’s two chambers was made traversable.

In 2000, István Szenthe dugged two trial excavation pits in the inner chamber of the cave. At that time he discovered archaeological finds, charcoal fragments, unglazed pottery sherds and grain-like particles resembling fired clay in the cave fill. In February 2000 he informed Balázs Holl, a staff member of the Hungarian National Museum, and the Herman Ottó Museum about the archaeological artifacts and then wanted to give the site the name Julcsa Cave. On February 17–18, 2000, István Szenthe and Balázs Holl surveyed the interior, entrance hall and surroundings of the cave. On February 22, 2000, Kató Gábor Rezi, Balázs Holl, István Szenthe and Viola T. Dobosi conducted an on‑site inspection and István Szenthe handed over the unearthed finds, a late Bronze Age gold ring, prehistoric pottery fragments and a serpentine carving.