Ottó Herman Cave

The Herman Ottó Cave is one of Hungary's specially protected caves. The archaeologically significant cave is located in the Bükk National Park, in Miskolc. It is also described in tourist guidebooks.

Description

The Herman Ottó Cave is under heightened nature and archaeological protection. In the Central Bükk (Southern Bükk), on the outskirts of Miskolc, in the Szinva valley, on the right (southern) side of the Puskaporosi Gorge, also called the Szinva Gorge, between Alsóhámor and Felsőhámor, directly above the stream bed, at an altitude of 236 m above sea level, the cave is located. The cave has two entrances, a lower and an upper one. The latter is also referred to as the Herman Ottó stone niche. Both entrances of the cave are large. The lower entrance of the cave is 5.1 m wide and 3.4 m high, the upper entrance is 5.5 m wide and 6.2 m high. The Herman Ottó stone niche is the upper level of the Herman Ottó Cave and leads to the main branch of the Herman Ottó Cave.

During floods, the Szinva stream often inundates the entrance section of the Herman Ottó Cave, making it difficult to visit the cave. Of the cave’s two entrances, the upper one (Herman Ottó stone niche) can be entered only by descending a rope, and the lower one only by crossing the stream, to reach the cave’s only 4–6 m wide but high, more fissure-like front section. The narrowing passage that starts from there forces the visitor first onto all fours and then to crawl. The almost horizontal passage, after 80 m, turns sharply to the right at a sharp angle and rises until it reaches a smaller chamber. From there, a permanently installed rope, which is in fairly poor condition, allows access to the narrowing end point a few meters further.

The entrance corridor and most of the hall of the cave are currently occupied by a lake 1.5 m deep and with a surface of 25×4 m. The cavity system formed in middle Triassic limestone (Fehérkői Limestone Formation) is 131.4 m long, extends 34.2 m vertically, is 2.2 m deep, 32 m high, and its horizontal extent is 77 m. The cave, which once carried water, has walls decorated with wave shells, finger‑joint arches and ceiling channels. Breccia zones, calcite crystals, re‑precipitated layer heads, flowstone and limonite traces are also visible, but only on a small area. Among its mineral deposits must be mentioned the stalactite drips and stalagmite poisonings in the entrance hall, the broken, aged limestone tufa deposits, and the dry, powdery speleothem formations located near the entrance. The cave may be visited and researched only with permission from the Bükki National Park Directorate or the North‑Hungarian Environmental, Nature Conservation and Water Management Supervision Authority.

To ensure the tranquility of the bats living in the cave, visiting the cave is prohibited between March 15 and September 31 (and when the colony appears).

The Herman Ottó Cave also occurs in literature as Alsóhámori stone niche (Korek, Patay 1958), Herman Cave (Kadić 1931), Herman’s niche (Kordos 1984), Herman‑niche (Bertalan 1976), Herman‑stone niche (Kadić 1931), Herman‑stone niche (Kadić 1930), Hermann Ottó Cave (Schőnviszky 1937), Hermann Ottó cave (Polgárdy 1941), Hermann Ottó stone niche (Korek, Patay 1958), Herman Ottó cave (Vértes 1965), Herman Ottó‑stone niche (Schőnviszky 1937), Herman Ottó stone niche (Vértes 1965), Puskaporos cave (Korek, Patay 1958), Puskaporosi cave (Kadić 1907), Puskaporosi Herman Ottó Cave, Puskaporosi‑stone niche (Bertalan 1976) and Puskaporosi stone niche (Kordos 1984). Until 1915 it was mainly known as Puskaporosi cave, however after the death of Herman Ottó in 1914 (in 1915), at the suggestion of Ottokár Kadić, it was renamed in his honour to the currently used name, Herman Ottó Cave.

1917–1956

In 1917, the entire sediment column was removed from the Upper Entrance, and at the same time 17 layers were identified. The lower 6 layers contained Pleistocene, the upper 11 layers contained Holocene animal remains. From the 2nd, 3rd and 5th layers counted from the bottom a total of 700 stone flakes and stone blades, pebble tools, cores, as well as finished stone tools, drills, chisels, scrapers and gouges were collected. The Holocene sediments yielded Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age ceramics, bones and stone material.

It was born in 1931, and from the book *Nature Conservation and Natural Monuments* it can be learned that the Ottó Herman Cave (Puskaporos Cave) has its large entrance in the D wall of the lower entrance of Hámor settlement, on the edge of the village, at the lower entrance of the Puskaporos Szinva Gorge (the gorge is called Puskaporos because in the past the ironworks near it kept its gunpowder there), which is hidden behind bushes. This stone chamber was named the Puskaporos stone chamber by Ottó Kadić. In addition, next to the stone chamber, but lower down, there is also a stone chamber with a large entrance, whose rear part connects to a larger cave. A few steps from the stone chamber, slightly higher than the stream, there is an opening, which is the lower, direct entrance of the aforementioned cave. The latter entrance is 3 m high, 4 m wide, slanted quadrangular in shape and leads with a 12 m long entrance passage to the cave hall. The already mentioned, chamber-like pool formation begins the previously mentioned upper entrance, and through a 6 m high, 12 m long passage also connects to the cave hall.