Lök-völgy Cave

Lök-völgy Cave is among the specially protected caves of Hungary. Paleontological finds have been recovered from the cave. It is located in the Bükki National Park area. It is also mentioned in tourist guidebooks.

Description

In the Southern Bükk, on the north‑west side of Lök Valley, at the upper end of the Vaskapu gorge, about 40 metres above the valley floor, on a mountainside, in a rocky terrain, in a forest, at the foot of a rock wall, at an altitude of 380 metres above sea level, it opens. Its entrance is natural but modified, horizontal in axis, irregular in shape, arched, 2.6 metres wide and two metres high.

The cave was formed in middle Triassic and upper Triassic limestone, in some places along subordinate tectonic fissures under the influence of infiltrating water. Upper flow formations, breccia zones, stalactite drops, straw drops, stalactite slabs, stalactite flows, spherical pepperstone and ancient remains can be observed in it. Rhombohedral calcite also occurs in the passages.

Kadić Ottokár found a single old tool in it, which can today be classified as belonging to the Bábony culture. The interesting aspect of the paleontological material that emerged is that the cave bears here were 30 % smaller than similar‑aged ones found elsewhere. The foxbones found here were also smaller than usual. No size differences were observed in the bones of fox, badger, cave hyena, cave lion, wildcat, rabbit, moose, roe deer and bison.

In 1977 the cave was first called Lök-völgyi-barlang in its literature. In its literature the cave also appears under the names Lélek-lyuk (Sásdi, Rabitovszki 2002), Léleklyuk (Bertalan 1976), Lökvölgyi-barlang (Kadić 1933), Lökvölgyi barlang (Schőnviszky 1937), Lőklyuk (Bartalos 1909), Lőkvölgyi-barlang (Kadić 1934) and Lőkvölgyi barlang (Kadić 1940). In Van Sály there is an artificial cavity named Lélek-lyuk and one variant of its name is also Léleklyuk.

Research History

First, in 1909 Gyula Bartalos mentioned the (Lőklyuk named) cave in print. According to his description an entire sheepfold fits in its cavity. Ottokár Kadić conducted excavations in the cave in 1929. Ottokár Kadić surveyed the cavity in 1933, and using the survey he drew the cave floor plan map, which marks the excavation sites of Gyula Bartalos and Andor Leszih. At that time Mária Mottl, using the cave survey carried out by Ottokár Kadić, drew the cave’s 2 longitudinal section map and 5 cross-section maps. László Schőnviszky presented the cavity in detail in the 1937 issue of Turisták Lapja. According to the description the cave is located on the side of Vaskapu rock gorge on the right side in Lök Valley at the edge of Felsőtárkány, with its entrance high up. The cave entrance leads into a large, extensively branching cave. During trial excavations, Pleistocene mammal remains, quartz fragments and a protosolutrean laurel leaf hill were found. The description was written based on two publications.

In the 1954 publication titled *Bükk portyavezető* it was reported that a blue square sign leads to the cave opening on the side of Lök-bérc to the left of Lök-völgy. Prehistoric finds were discovered in the cave. According to the description in the book *A barlangok világa*, which appeared in 1962, the cave opens at an altitude of 360 m above sea level and is a site of the Szeleta culture. In the manuscript completed in 1976 and written by Károly Bertalan it is stated that the Lökvölgyi cave, also known as Léleklyuk, is located in the Bükk Mountains at Felsőtárkány. The right (eastern) side of the Vaskapu rock gorge, high above the road, has a wide, D‑facing, oval entrance at 367 m above sea level. The old source cave is 34 m long. It has tourist utilization. Stone tools and vertebrate fauna were recovered from the fill. The part of the manuscript concerning the cave was written based on a publication.

In the *Magyar barlangtani bibliográfia* cave name index compiled by Károly Bertalan and László Schőnviszky and published in 1976, the cave located in the Bükk Mountains at Felsőtárkány is mentioned under the name Lök-völgyi-barlang. The index lists 20 literary works that deal with the cave. In the 1977 book *Bükk útikalauz* it is written that its entrance is in the Vaskapu limestone gorge, four kilometres south of the Imó-kői source cave. Its south‑facing, curved opening leads to a spacious chamber that branches in several directions. In its fill, bones of cave bear, cave lion, cave hyena and ancient bison, as well as stone tools characteristic of the early Szeleta culture, were found. The Vaskapu cave lies in the vicinity of DNy.

The book published in 1979, titled Caves in the Bükk, mentions that the Lök-völgy Cave has its oval entrance on the right-hand rock wall of Lök-völgy, up high. From the cave that branches in several directions, the Vaskapu Cave is located to the D. On the map attached to the book, which shows the area of the Bükk Mountains richest in caves, the geographical location of the cave marked with number 66 can be seen. In the national cave list of the book published in 1984, Caves of Hungary, the cave located in the Bükk Mountains appears under the name Lök-völgyi-barlang with the variant name Léleklyuk. Related to the list, the geographical location of the caves of the Aggtelek Karst and the Bükk Mountains is shown on a 1:500 000 scale map, indicating the cave’s geographical location. According to the 1985 yearbook of the Marcel Loubens Cave Research Association, two bats were observed in it on August 10, 1985.