Kecskés-galya Cave

Kecskés-galya Cave is among the specially protected caves of Hungary. It is located in the area of Bükki National Park. The cave is famous because of its archaeological finds. Finds from the Paleolithic Mousterian culture have also emerged from it. Many Pleistocene animal bones have been found in it and its Pleistocene fauna is rich in species.

Description

It opens near the top of Kecskés-galya, on its southern rocky side, about two kilometres from the Suba opening. It is about 70 metres higher than the valley below. The unsealed cave has three entrances, therefore it is a through cave. It formed in Triassic limestone. It was created by phreatic dissolution, supported by solution forms of the upper type, and later its passages were modified by freeze‑thaw fracturing. The cave has been hydrologically inactive for a long time, therefore it is in a heavily degraded state, a ruin cave.

Among the archaeological finds in the cave, the oldest are stone tools belonging to the Paleolithic Mousterian culture. The tools found in the upper cultural layer are of the Mousterian type, but their workmanship already shows characteristics of the Solutrean culture. They form a transition between the two archaeological cultures. The other site of this transitional culture is the Balla Valley rock shelter. From its fill have been recovered cave bear, brown bear, cave hyena, cave lion, aurochs, giant deer, gray wolf, elk, ancient elk, bison, roe deer, woolly rhinoceros, meadow hare and Equus mosbachensis bones. It can be viewed in street clothing and without a lamp.

The cave occurs in the literature under the names Galya-hole (Kordos 1984), Galyalyuk (Pataki, Pálosi, Dancza 1938), Kecskésgalyai-cave (Kadić 1933), Kecskésgalyai cave (Schőnviszky 1937), Kecskés-gallyai-cave (Kordos 1984), Kecskés-gallyai cave (Czenthe 1965), Kecskekori-cave (Bertalan 1976), Vöröskő-valley-passage (Hevesi 1977), Vöröskővalley-passage (Bertalan 1976), Vöröskővalley passage (Schőnviszky 1937) and Vöröskő-valley passage (Kordos 1984). In 1976 the cave was first called Kecskés-galyai-cave in the literature.

Research history

In April 1931, guided by directions given by István Lukács, János Dancza surveyed the cave. He found a fragment of a pottery vessel on the surface of the cave fill that appeared to be Bronze Age. On May 3, 1931, János Dancza and his companions measured the cave, and then János Dancza used the survey to produce a map of the cave. From August 1, 1932 to October 15, 1932, Ottokár Kadić, with the assistance of János Dancza, László Fazekas and József Kovács, carried out archaeological and paleontological excavations in the cavity, during which pottery fragments, two Upper Paleolithic grinding stones, a Neanderthal metatarsal bone and mammoth remains were uncovered. The later fate of the metatarsal bone is unknown, the mammoth bones were identified by Mária Mottl. The large limb bones were broken by the prehistoric human to access the marrow.

The examined stratigraphic sequence corresponded with the upper light brown and dark gray layers of the Suba-hole. At the same time as the excavation, Ottokár Kadić surveyed the site and, based on this, Mária Mottl drew a cave map. At the start of the excavation the cave was 15 m long, 5 m wide and on average 1.5 m high. It was almost filled with sediment and was overgrown with vegetation. At the end of the research there was still deposit suitable for excavation in the cave, and Ottokár Kadić considered its inspection important.

According to the study *A Bükk-hegység barlangjai* published in 1937 and written by László Schőnviszky, the cave is located at the border of Cserépfalu, on the rocky DK side of Kecskésgalya, near the mountain summit. The variable‑height passage is 15 m long and has a window. Paleolithic finds and Pleistocene vertebrate remains were recovered from the cave. Mária Mottl continued the cave excavation in 1937 on behalf of the Geological Institute. At that time Mottl found several obsidian Paleolithic tools and many Pleistocene mammoth bones. She prepared new maps of the cave. Using the surveys of Ottokár Kadić and Mária Mottl carried out in 1932 and 1937, the cave’s two plan maps, longitudinal‑section map and nine cross‑section maps were drawn.

The cavity is described in the 1962 book *The World of Caves*. The description states that near Cserépfalu, not far from the Suba opening, on the slope of Kecskésgalya Hill DNy, at an altitude of 380 m above sea level, is the cave entrance. Tools of the Moustier culture were found in the lowest layer of the cave. The tools from the higher layers are probably more important, because they may connect the Szeleta culture with the Moustier culture. According to the 1962 book *Bükk Travel Guide*, the caves of Kecskésgalyai yielded the chronologically significant finds of the Moustier culture.

The manuscript *Hungary's Cave Gazetteer*, completed in 1976 and written by Bertalan Károly, states that the Kecskésgalyai cave located in the Bükk Mountains at Cserépfalu has additional names Kecskekori Cave and Vöröskővölgy Passage. On the rocky DK side of Kecskés-galya, directly below the mountain top, at an altitude of 380 m above sea level, the entrance opens. The entrance is a passage with a window. From the 15 m long cave Neolithic pottery and Ice Age bones were recovered. The manuscript was processed based on a literary work. In the *Hungarian Speleology Bibliography* compiled by Bertalan Károly and László Schőnviszky and published in 1976, the cave name index mentions the cave in the Bükk Mountains at Cserépfalu as Kecskés-galyai Cave. The cave name index lists 15 literary works that deal with the cave.