Kifli Pothole

Kifli Pothole is a cave 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.

Description

The entrance of the cave is on the southern‑eastern side of the karst, on the Upper Mountain plateau, 1080 m east of the centre of Bódvaszilas, 278° from the peak of Vecsem‑bük, at an altitude of 525 m above sea level, in a specially protected area. From the Vecsembükki pothole, the tourist trail marked with a yellow stripe leads to the rocky entrance courtyard of the pothole on the right side of the path (to the north). Some tourist maps mark the cave’s location with a pothole symbol and the name of the cave.

The pothole formed in Middle Triassic Wetterstein limestone. The horizontal extent of the cave is 22 m. At the bottom of a large surface opening, through a 0.5 m diameter opening, one can reach a very interesting corridor with meandering forms, a sloping and debris‑filled floor. At the end of the corridor there is a false floor. The cave is not closed. It can be visited without permission using rope‑technical equipment. To descend the cave, 22 m of rope, 3 carabiners, 1 rope protector and 2 rope rings are required.

Fossil cave bear, brown bear and bat bones have been recovered from its fill. The narrow cave could not have been used as a habitat by cave bears and brown bears, therefore they probably fell into the pothole. Since currently a false floor in the entrance area prevents large‑sized organisms from entering the cave, it can be assumed that the false floor formed after the bears’ bones were incorporated.

The cave occurs in the literature under the names 64 (Kósa 1992), Gouffre Kifli (Bajomi 1968), Gouffre-Kifli (Bajomi 1968), Kifli-Schachthöhle (Loksa 1967), Kifli zsomboly (Bajomi 1965), Lepecsö-zs. (Vlk 2019), Lépcső-zsomboly (Bertalan 1976), Rohlík (Vlk 2019), Rožek (Vlk 2019), SZ/6 (Kósa 1992) and V-2 (Kósa 1992). In 1964 it was first called Kifli-zsomboly in the literature.

Research history

The 1964 Karst and Cave Research Bulletin mentioned that the Kifli-zsomboly is a step‑like cave. In April 1965, under the leadership of Attila Kósa, biological research was carried out in the pit. During the investigation, fossil cave bear, brown bear and bat bones were found. Red fox, western pipistrelle, small-footed bat, long‑eared bat, wildcat, badger, domestic cat, large mole, European roe deer, Lepus, European squirrel, yellow‑browed wood mouse, bird and human bones were also found.

In the 1965 Karst and Cave Research Bulletin, Daniel Bajomi gave a detailed description of the cave and listed which animal species' bones were found in the pothole and which animal species have been identified from its current fauna. The description states that the large entrance of the Kifli pothole is in dense forest, on the karst slope side, at an altitude of 520 m above sea level according to Pál Kornél Scholtz. The study included the cave plan map, a projection longitudinal section map and two cross‑section maps. The maps were edited by Attila Kósa. For the preparation of the maps the cave was surveyed by Daniel Bajomi, Attila Kósa and Kinga Székely. At that time the cave’s developed longitudinal section map was also completed, but it was not published. The projection longitudinal section map shows the location of the two cross‑sections within the cave. The maps present the cave at a scale of 1:200. (At an unknown time, an unknown person drew the cave plan map, longitudinal section map with installation diagram and two cross‑section maps based on the maps published in 1965.)

The cave description by Daniel Bajomi published in the 1963–1967 Karst and Cave Research appeared in French. The cave’s maps issued in 1965 were published. The study was accompanied by a photograph made by Kinga Székely showing the cave entrance, and a photograph made by Attila Kósa showing the cave’s biological investigation. In 1970 György Dénes sent the National Conservation Office a bibliography on the Kifli pothole compiled by him, consisting of four items.

In Bertalan Károly's manuscript completed in 1976 it can be read that the Kifli-pothole (Staircase-pothole) is located on the Lower Mountain, Bódvaszilás. At an altitude of 520 m above sea level, about 300 m north‑east of the School-pothole, the cave entrance is on the karstic tuff side covered with dense forest. The stair‑shaped cave is 25.2 m long. Cave bear and other fossil bones were found in it. The part of the manuscript describing the cave was written based on two publications.

According to the speleological field report made on 30 January 1977 and based on the cave's November 1975 exploration, the cave is located in Bódvaszilás at an altitude of 531 m above sea level. The pothole entrance is on the east‑north side of the tuff. According to the study published in 1977 in *Karst and Cave* and written by Daniel Bajomi, the mite *Oribella cavatica* as well as the springtail insects *Onychiurus kadići* and *Arrhopalites furcatus hungaricus* occur in the Kifli-pothole. The study contains a map of Hungary on which the geographic locations of the biologically investigated caves in Hungary can be seen. The map shows the geographic location of the biologically partially studied Kifli-pothole. Twenty‑eight animal species were identified from the cave. The English‑language version of the study was included in the 1977 special issue of the journal. This study also includes the map on which Kifli Shaft is the name of the cave.