Rejteki No 1 Rockshelter

The Rejteki No. 1 rock shelter is among Hungary's specially protected caves. Paleontological and archaeological finds have been recovered from it. It is located in the Bükki National Park. It is also described in tourist guidebooks.

Description

It is located in the middle part of the Rejtek valley, in the rock wall next to the tourist trail. It opens at a height of 8–10 meters above the valley floor. The width of the rock shelter entrance is 9 meters. It formed in middle Triassic limestone.

On the lower part of the post‑glacial layer sequence, reindeer, bear—either a cave bear or brown bear—and bison bones were found, then amphibians and reptiles appeared, as well as the remains of squirrel, mole and moisture‑loving dwarf mouse. In the uppermost inhabited layer there were glazed and unglazed pottery sherds. In the lower layers small flaked stone tools were found. The oldest archaeological finds were classified by Vértes László into the “cave gravettian” culture of the Mesolithic, which today is called the Pilisszántó culture.

The characteristic grass species of the rocky forest around the cave is forest thyme, and also, for example, clustered sagewort, wonderful violet, annual windgrass, fragrant mugwort, round‑leafed knapweed and bear's foot are found. The forest association of the rocks is linden‑hornbeam, in whose canopy level turkey oak is found and sometimes beech as well.

The cave occurs in the literature under the names Emmy Felsnische (Bertalan 1976), Emmy Rock Shelter (Jánossy, Kordos 1976), Rejtek I. stone shelter (Fűköh 1979), Rejtek 1. stone shelter (Kordos 1984), Rejteki 1. stone shelter (Jánossy 1963), Rejteki I. stone shelter (Vértes 1965), Rejteki I.-stone shelter (Hevesi 1977), Rejteki-stone shelter (Jánossy 1975), Rejteki stone shelter (Vértes 1965), Rejtek-rock face (Jánossy 1977) and Szarvaskő Rock Shelter (Jánossy, Kordos 1976). In 1984 the cave was mentioned for the first time in the literature as Rejteki 1. stone shelter.

Research History

Denes Jánossy and his wife discovered the cave on April 22, 1957, and Denes Jánossy carried out a trial excavation in the cavity in 1957. Denes Jánossy searched for new prehistoric finds in the stone shelter in 1958 and 1959. The cave plan map and longitudinal section map were published in the 1961 issue of the publication Karst and Cave Research.

According to the book published by Laszlo Vértes in 1965, the Rejteki I. stone shelter is located in the Bükk Mountains. Near Répáshuta, the entrance of the small cave is on the eastern part of the Csúnya valley. In the stone shelter Denes Jánossy found a dwarf-tool Mesolithic assemblage. During the excavation only a small amount of archaeological material and well‑preservable fauna were recovered. It is very likely that a Mesolithic person entered it, as indicated by a single trapezoidal, cross‑sectional opening and several atypical flakes in the mixed‑fauna layer of the early post‑glacial level. Some small atypical fragments from the lower, tarand (deer‑antler) layer may belong to the cave’s gravettian assemblage. In questions concerning our scarce Paleolithic sites, finds that consist of only a single tool, such as the trapezoidal opening of the Rejteki stone shelter, often carried evidential weight.

The report written by Dénes Jánossy, published in the 1975 MKBT Report, mentions that in 1975 the manuscript of the joint study by Dénes Jánossy and László Kordos was completed, titled Pleistocene-Holocene Fauna from two Caves in Hungary. This study contains the complete processing of the palaeontological material from the Rejteki rock shelter. The extracted snail fauna was identified by Endre Krolopp. The results of the investigation were published in 1976 in the joint study by Dénes Jánossy and László Kordos.

The manuscript titled Hungary’s Cave Inventory, completed in 1976, states that the Rejteki 1 rock shelter located in Répáshuta in the Bükk Mountains is also known as Emmy Felsnische. It is situated on the K side of the valley slope about 500 m from Répáshuta, K, and about 500 m from the Rejteki work lodge, D, at the line of the power line clearing, at approximately 500 m above sea level, with a rock‑type entrance. The collapsing rock shelter is 2.5 m long and 9 m wide. Upper Pleistocene and Holocene strata contain archaeological remains. The part of the manuscript concerning caves was written based on one literary work.

The 1977 review “Karst and Caves” written by Dénes Jánossy mentions that the Rejteki rock shelter at Répáshuta is the counterpart of the Jankovich‑cave Pleistocene‑Holocene transitional series occurring in another facies. The publication includes a map of Hungary showing the geographic locations of caves in Hungary known for their palaeontological finds. The map shows the geographic location of Rejtek‑rock formation, listed among the sites of the Northern Central Mountains. An English‑language version of the review was included in the special issue of the journal in 1977. This study also includes the map on which Rejtek Rock Shelter is the cave name.

It was first published in 1984, in the book *Caves of Hungary* there is a map of Hungary on which the geographical locations of those caves in Hungary that are best known because of their prehistoric finds can be seen. The map shows the geographical location of the Rejteki No 1 rockshelter. In the national cave list the cave in the Bükk Mountains appears under the name Rejteki No 1 rockshelter with the variant name Emmy Felsnische. Associated with the list is a 1:500 000 scale map showing the geographical locations of the caves of the Aggtelek Karst and the Bükk Mountains, on which the cave’s geographical location is indicated. In the regional bibliography section of the 1986 *Karst and Cave* bibliography the cave appears under the name Rejteki No 1 rockshelter. According to the compilation, of the works published in *Karst and Cave* one deals with the cave. On the front cover of the first half‑year issue of the 1986 *Karst and Cave* there is a colour photograph made by István Poór titled *The Rejteki Rockshelter in the Bükk*.