Remete-hegyi No 2 Cave

The Remete-hegy No. 2 cave is one of the caves located in the Remete Gorge in the Danube–Ipoly National Park.

Description

In the Budai Landscape Protection Area, in the outskirts of Remeteszőlős, in a specially protected area, in the forest, on the eastern side of the Remete Gorge, at the northern entrance of the gorge, on the steep and rocky side of Remete Hill, at about 330 m above sea level, is the cave entrance. It is located in the middle cave level of the gorge (this level lies 70 m above the valley floor, at 340–350 m above sea level). Numbered from north to south in the Remete Gorge according to the rock chambers, the Remete-hegy stone niche, the Remete-hegy No. 2 cave, the Remete-hegy No. 3 cave and the Remete-hegy No. 4 cave are in the 1st rock chamber. The stone niche and the three small caves are situated almost at the same altitude.

On the western side of the Remete-hegy stone niche cleft, separated by shallow water erosion, in forest‑covered rock walls, between the 1st rock chamber and the barren 2nd rock chamber, lies the Remete-hegy No. 2 cave. Directly near the cave entrance, in the layer above the entrance, there is a 3.5 m cavity. Descending 13 m down the wooded and steep slope in front of the Remete-hegy No. 2 cave, the Remete-hegy No. 3 cave is located at the western corner of the rock wall.

The Ny-i felső kis barlang is the Remete-hegyi No 2 cave. Because of the destruction of the surface layers, one can infer an opened spherical chamber from its oval, shaft-like entrance. Surface debris and humus cover its smooth floor. From the cave's entrance shaft, a crawl of 2 m leads to the inner, larger cavity, whose floor is loose debris. In this inner, on average 2 m high cavity, small stalactite drips line the rear walls and a very narrow 4 m trumpet-shaped passage. It appears that the cave has been filled with external rubble. The cave, which is open and equipped with basic caving gear, can be visited without a permit.

In 1984 the cave was first called Remete-hegyi No 2 cave in the literature. In the literature the cave also appears as the 2nd cave (Horváth, Szunyogh 1971), Remete-hegyi 2.sz. barlang (Horváth, Szunyogh 1971) and Remetehegyi 2. sz. barlang (Bertalan 1976).

Research history

The 1877 Archaeologiai Értesítő mentions that the antiquities department of the Hungarian National Museum was enriched in November by 1 (animal) lower jaw, 2 bones and 3 pottery shards. These finds, which came from a rock shelter located near Remetemária in Buda, were donated to the museum by Lóczy Lajos. The 1904 Budapest Régisége mentions that the rock shelters of Remetemária were probably Stone Age pasture sites, from which Lóczy Lajos (Archaeological N., 168/1877.) brought coarse pottery fragments to the Hungarian National Museum.

It first saw the light in 1937, and in a publication written by István Jablonkay it is mentioned that on the left wall of the Remete gorge, at a distance of 50 m from the stream (upper level) and 10 m higher (lower level) there are spring caves. The spring cave located on the upper level is less developed and uglier than the other spring cave situated on the upper level, which can be observed along the entire length of the gorge. If a cave’s erosion base moves downwards, the cave’s water system follows. This can happen, for example, when water leaves the old transitional cave and the old spring cave, and then, descending through thin cracks in the rock, creates a new cave system. In this case a new spring cave opens beneath the old one, at the new level of the subsided erosion base. The old upper entrance is then broken by the remaining karst breccia. The abandoned spring caves lining the left wall of the Remete gorge are fine examples of this process. The erosion base of these caves was the stream of the cave whose collapse formed the gorge. The upper‑level caves indicate the former height of the gorge‑cave stream before the segmental change.

In the chapter written by Ferenc Tompa in the 1942 book *Budapest története* it is mentioned that after Flóris Rómer, Géza Nagy also noted that coarse pots had emerged from the rock niches of Remetemária, which probably originate from the polished stone age. Sándor Leél‑Őssy gave a lecture at the meeting of the Hungarian Hydrological Society on 9 March 1949. The topic of the lecture was the Seven‑hole. The lecture also mentioned the other caves of the Remete gorge. Sándor Leél‑Őssy gave a lecture at the society’s specialist meeting on 9 November 1949, in which he presented the caves of the Remete gorge.

In the 3–4th issue of the 1950 volume of the Hydrological Gazette the text of the lecture given by Leél-Őssy Sándor on March 9, 1949 was published. The title of the publication is The Seven‑Hole Cave of Remete Hill. The study mentions that the currently high‑located but already dry, dying spring caves of Remete Hill were formed in the Pliocene and early Pleistocene. (Cave under the seven holes, Remete‑hill stone cell and several other smaller unfinished or broken caves, as well as a spring cavity.) Afterwards, due to the young tectonic uplift and the climatic origin of the erosion base, the karst water level of Remete Hill also fell and the caves that had become dry began to die out.