Suba Hole

The Suba Hole is an archaeologically significant cave. The cave is famous because Neanderthal human skeletal remains were recovered from its fill. In Hungary, Neanderthal skeletal remains were first found in this cave. It is located in the Bükki National Park area. It is one of Hungary's specially protected caves. A popular hiking destination.

Description

It is located on the edge of Cserépfalu, near Bükkzsérc, on the southern section of the Hór Valley. The entrance is about 40 metres above the valley floor and the Hór stream, at an altitude of 279 metres above sea level. Here the mountainous part of the Bükk region meets the hill region called Egri-Bükkalja. The entrance opens to the surface at two places, at the entrance and at the exit.

In Triassic limestone, a huge, 7×7 metre oval entrance opens onto a 50 metre long inactive spring cave; the rising floor leads to a branch. From here to the right, behind the protective wall, the huge dome that was revealed by excavation can be seen. The dome wall consists mainly of debris, making it life‑threatening to climb on the wall. In the left branch of the junction there is an exit protected by a fence. From there there is an excellent view toward the entrance of the Hór Valley. Its horizontal extent is 30 metres.

The human skeletal remains found in the cave were identified by science as Neanderthal, showing affinity with Eastern European Neanderthal finds. It is not yet possible to know exactly when they lived, but roughly 71,000–61,000 years ago, during a colder period of an interglacial. They lived primarily by hunting, their main prey being cave bear, aurochs, elk, rabbit, mammoth and other Pleistocene animals. The animals were butchered at the hunting site, and only the smaller bones and meat were brought into the cave. Their tools were of simple manufacture, most of which were obtained from a few‑kilometre radius, but the obsidian was obtained from the Zemplén Mountains.

Rib bone has been recovered from Suba Hole only from seven Hungarian caves besides it: from Király‑kúti‑zsomboly, from Lengyel Cave, from Pes‑kő Cave, from Pilisszántó‑kőfülke, from Puskaporos‑kőfülke, from Remete Cave and from Remete‑hegy‑kőfülke.

Suba Hole got its name from a local bandit whose name was Suba Mihály (Suba Miska) or Suba Lukács. Between 1932 and 1945 its name was changed to Mussolini Cave. The cave also occurs in literature under the names Hór‑völgy Cave (Kordos 1984), Hórvölgy Cave (Bertalan, Schőnviszky 1976), Hórvölgy cave (Bertalan 1976), Kúthegy 1st Cave, Mussolini Cave (Polgárdy 1941), Subalyuk (Révai 1938), Subalyuka (Fényes 1851), Subalyuk‑cave (Gábori 1977), Suba‑lyuk Cave (Takácsné, Eszterhás, Juhász, Kraus 1989) and Subalyuk Cave (Ringer 1989). On page 137 of the book published in 2002 and edited by Baráz Csaba, a cavity named Hór‑völgy Cave is mentioned, which has been destroyed.

Research History

In his book published in 1851, Elek Fényes wrote that a larger cavity than the Perpác rock column, located in a rock formation, could accommodate a sheepfold. In 1932 excavations began under the direction of János Dancza and that year the bones of a 25–35‑year‑old woman and a child of about three years were found. The uncovered remains are only fragments. After the discovery of the prehistoric human remains, the excavation carried out by Ottó Kadić separated 18 layers. The priority of the discovery was disputed for a long time between the discoverer János Dancza and the scientist who processed the find, Ottó Kadić. In the 5th–6th issue of Természetbarát in 1938 there is mention that among nature lovers and throughout the country the famous find made by János Dancza in Subalyuk (Bükk Mountains) is known: Homo primigenius.

In the Hungarian Tourist Encyclopedia published in 1941 there is a separate entry for the cave. The publication states that the Mussolini cave (Subalyuk) is located in the Bükk Mountains, at the border of Cserépfalu, in the Hór valley. First Janos Dancza (a tourist speleologist from Eger) carried out excavations in the cave, then in 1932 Ottokar Kadić examined the cave in detail. During the excavations Homo primigenius remains (a prehistoric infant's jaw filled with milk teeth) and the stone tools of early man were found. Homo primigenius is the first early human found in Hungary. The finds made the cave not only one of the most notable caves of the Bükk Mountains, but of the whole of Hungary.

The 1942 edition of the Országjárás mentioned that the Cserépfalu cave is one of the notable caves of the Bükk Mountains. In the chapter written by Ferenc Tompa in the book *Budapest története* published in 1942 there is a statement that if we connect in a straight line the Korpona rich in moustérien finds with the Subalyuk Mussolini cave containing human bone remains (a Bükk Mountains site), then it can be determined that Buda and its surroundings lie exactly on the line connecting the two sites.

In the 1968 issue of Karst and Cave it was published that László Vértes became the head of the Prehistoric Collection of the Hungarian National Museum in 1951 and thereafter directed new excavations with modern methods at classic Paleolithic sites, e.g. at Suba Hole. In 1976 the Suba Hole, a clay-floored cave on the 5300 (Bükk) cave cadastral area, became a cave of national significance. In the Hungarian speleology bibliography, published in 1976 and compiled by Károly Bertalan and László Schőnviszky, the cave name index mentions the cave in the Bükk Mountains under the name Suba Hole with the name variants Mussolini Cave and Hórvölgy Cave. The cave name index lists 132 literary works that deal with the cave.