The Szelim cave ( Hungarian: ''Szelim-barlang'' or ''Szelim-lyuk'' (Szelim hole), ''Bánhidai nagy barlang'' (Bánhidian big cave), ''Eperjes-barlang, Szemi-luki, Szemi-lyuka, Szelimluk barlang, Bánhidai-zsomboly, Szent Vit-barlang'') is located in northwestern

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

at the western margin of the

Gerecse Mountains Gerecse is a mountain range in north-western Hungary, that belongs to the Transdanubian Mountains Geography The range lies in the Central Transdanubian region and connects Vértes Hills with Pilis Mountains in Komárom-Esztergom County, betwe ...

, above the ''Által-ér Valley'' near

Tatabánya Tatabánya (; german: Totiserkolonie; sk, Banská Stará) is a city with county rights of 64,305 inhabitants in northwestern Hungary, in the Central Transdanubian region. It is the capital of Komárom-Esztergom County. Location The city is lo ...

city. The cave interior is long and high. The site has been regularly frequented and used as a shelter by local villagers over the centuries, is easily accessible and its huge rectangular entrance features a memorial of the

Turul The Turul is a mythological bird of prey, mostly depicted as a Falcon, in Hungarian tradition and Turkic tradition, and a national symbol of Hungarians. Origin The Turul is probably based on a large falcon. The Hungarian language word ''tu ...

Geology

The karstic cave was formed during the Upper Trias, has undergone and will further undergo extensive corrosion. Meteoric water infiltrates the compact Mesozoic limestone and is going to carve cavities into the bedrock, solve the limestone and abrade the cavities with the debris and rocks.

Excavations

The cave was recognized as an archaeological site only relatively late. In 1932 Hubert Kessler, the first promoter of speleological research, began excavations. The results of Kessler work encouraged István Gaál to start regular excavations. In 1934 the ''Natural History Research Council'' supplied - although insufficient - the financial means for further work. Remains of hearths, stoves, carvings, animal bones and human remains, some of which date to the era of Turkish invasions in early modernity were excavated. The sediments are more than deep and rich in archaeological finds, that were extracted to the bedrock in a few months in most of the cave. More recent research results confirm the notion that human occupation in Szelim dates back as far as 200,000 years BP. Mousterian artefacts and stone tools discovered in the stratae date back to the

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coi ...

. In 2013 the Hungarian Ministry of Interior declared the site a protected natural national asset.

Legends of the cave

The cave is subject to several historical legends. * According to the oral tradition the population of 7 neighboring villages escaped to the depth of the earth during the Turkish wars from Szelim sultan's troops who devastated Transdanubia. Unfortunately, Turkish found the people who hid in the cave and they killed them by the smoke of the bonfire they pour to the opening of the cave.Tatabánya:Fotoalbum * The population of the villages surrounding the refuge being looked for in the cave on the time of the Tartar attacks. When a little boy got thirsty then aloud started crying, his mother took it away the close to a source. The Tartars, who had the woman compelled to reveal the cache of the others, captured them however there.

Pictures

File:Szelim barlang koponya.JPG File:Szelim-bg-west-Cave.jpg File:Szelim-bg-upper-Cave.jpg File:Szelim-bg-north-Cave.jpg File:Szelim-barlang.jpg

References

External links

Pictures of Szelim cave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Szelim Cave Tatabánya Caves of Hungary Show caves in Hungary Geography of Komárom-Esztergom County Tourist attractions in Komárom-Esztergom County Archaeological sites in Hungary