Tuskós Cave

The Tuskós-water-collector cave is one of the Miskolc caves. It is located in the Bükki National Park area. It is also presented in tourist guidebooks.

Description

Its large entrance equipped with accident‑prevention steel railing is at Létrástető, directly beside the highway connecting Miskolc and Jávorkuta. It developed in Upper Triassic Ladinian periodic limestone. Dissolution channels and dissolution potholes can be seen in it. It is not closed, but a permit is required for visitation. The cave passage can be walked with basic equipment.

In the literature it also occurs as Létrási cave (Kadić 1907), Létrási‑kis‑zsomboly (Bertalan, Schőnviszky 1976), Létrási kis zsomboly (Schőnviszky 1937), Létrási zsomboly (Kadić 1932), Tuskós‑cave (Kemenczei, K. Végh 1971), Tuskós cave (MLBE 1968), Tuskós‑water‑collector cave (KVI BTO map 1982), Tuskós‑collector (Lénárt 1975), Tuskós‑viznyelő (Tóth 1960), Tuskós‑viznyelőcave (Majoros 1969), Tuskós viznyelőcave (Bertalan 1976) and Tuskós water‑collector cave (MHT KKSZ map 1965). In 1970 it was first called Tuskós‑water‑collector cave in the literature (Dely 1970). Its name comes from the water‑collectors found in it.

Research history

In the 1907 volume of the Geological Gazette there is a study written by Ottokár Kadić that mentions that Ottokár Kadić explored the limestone area belonging to the Szinva valley system and here, on the right bank of the Garadna, visited the Létrási cave. Karoly Sebős entered it in 1931 and surveyed the cavity with an assistant. László Schőnviszky described this cave in his 1937 summary work as Létrási kis zsomboly, which was then six and a half meters deep.

In 1960 the MKBT Miskolc Group carried out exploratory work in it under the leadership of Olivér Láner. In 1965 four members of the MHT Karst and Karst Water Research Department, Vilma Zámpori, Olivér Láner, Zsuzsanna Majoros and Edit Liptai, surveyed it, based on which a horizontal projection map and an extended longitudinal section map were made, which went to the estate of Károly Mészáros. Members of the MEAFC Marcel Loubens Cave Research Department uncovered short new sections in 1969 by digging and during the cleaning of the cave found a pottery fragment belonging to the Upper Paleolithic Bükk culture. Vilma Zámpori donated the find to the Herman Ottó Museum.

The Speleology Cave Research Group performed a one‑week temperature measurement in the summer of 1970 in the water sink with the help of the Eger Teacher Training College. In the Hungarian Cave Bibliography compiled by Károly Bertalan and László Schőnviszky, published in 1976, the cave in the Bükk Mountains is mentioned under the name Létrási‑kis‑zsomboly. The cave name index lists three literary works that deal with the cave.

In the manuscript titled *Hungary’s Cave Register* completed in 1976 it is stated that the Tuskós water‑sink cave is located in the Bükk Mountains, in Miskolc. It is on Létrás‑tető, directly beside the road to Jávork. Its wide and sloping entrance is next to the road. The inactive water‑sink cave is about 20 m long and about 8 m deep. Climatological measurements were made in it. The part of the manuscript concerning the cave was written based on one publication. According to the *Bükk Guidebook* edited by Attila Hevesi and published in 1977, it is 10 m deep.

The book *Caves in the Bükk* published in 1979 states that on the left side of the trail there is a huge and intermittent water sinkhole, the Tuskós Cave. Anyone who wants to see it should be careful, because its slope is very rotten. The bottom of the 13 m deep cave is blocked by debris. The entrance to the Little Hazelnut Water Sinkhole Cave is located 120 m east of the Tuskós Cave. On the map attached to the book, which shows the area of the Bükki Mountains richest in caves, the geographical location of the Tuskós Cave marked with number 45 can be seen. In 1982 the Speleological Department of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences prepared a plan map and an extended length-section map of the cave. In the book *Caves of Hungary* published in 1984, which is a national cave list, the cave in the Bükki Mountains appears under the name Tuskós Water Sinkhole Cave. In connection with the list, the geographical location of the cave is shown on a 1:500 000 scale map depicting the locations of caves in the Aggtelek Karst and the Bükki Mountains.

In 1987 the Marcel Loubens Caving Association, on behalf of the Bükki National Park, erected a safety barrier at the entrance. The work was directed by László Ónodi. For the preparation of its latest plan map, the cave was surveyed by Ferenc File and Imre Veres, who were members of the association. The map, completed in 1998, was made with imprecise measurements and drawn by Imre Veres. In the study published in 2013 and written by Gábor Varga, the Tuskós Cave in Miskolc, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County, which has a ladder shaft, is listed among the unidentified archaeological sites.