Karst and Cave - Special Issue 1992 [antikvár]

SHORT COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF CAVE AND KARST RESEARCH ON THE TERRITORY OF THE ALPS, THE CARPATHIANS AND THE DINARIC ALPS TILL 1914 Dénes Balázs The Alps, the Carpathians and the Dinaric Alps are one of the most vari ed geographical complexes of Kurasian Mountain System created by the CretaceoTertiary earth movements. The totál extension of J7 the three mountain regions is about 750 000 km". 210 000 km" is the territory of the Alps. the section of the Dinaric Alps extending from ihe Sava-Idrija Valley to Albania is 150 000 km", while the Carpathians makes a curve. 1 500 km in lenght and 100-150 kmJn width, spreading over a territory of 220 000 knr. The basin area closed around by them is 170 000 km". In the followings the names of the three mounlainous areas will be abbreviated by the mosaic word: "ALCADI" förmed of the first syllables of the words. The three mountain regions of complex structure have a signilicant amount of carbonate rocks, partly in highly földed and overthrusted mountains. partly in forms of planinas or island-like uplifted plateaus. The Dinaric Alps is the richest in carbonate formations, about 38% of its surface is dominated by limestone and dolomité (57 000 km"). The Al^s is the next one with its 17% proportion (36 000 km"), while the Carpathians is comparatively poor in carbonates: 4% (9 600 km"). however, the proportion of limestonc in the North-Western Carpathians (Slovakia) is as high as 10%. As a result of favorable climatic circumstances and other conditions the ALCADI arca abounds in caves. More than one thousand caves were known as early as lhe 1890-es and the number increased threefold till 1914. According to the 1990 survey the number of caves in ALCADI territory is about 65 000; 30 000 of them is situated in the Alps, 17 000 are to be found in the Carpathians and in the island-mountains closed inside. while about 18 000 ones are in the Dinaric Alps. These three territories played important part in the birth of generál speleology and karstology, and in the flourishing of these branehes of science. On the one hand they provide an open-air laboratory with a great variety of richly förmed karsts, and on the other, the important cultural centers of the area (Vienna. Budapest, Graz, Trieste. Bmo) with their universities. geological and hydrological institutes were alsó situated in this territory. The central part of the ALCADI area (Eastern Alps. the Northern part of the Dinaric Alps and the greatest part of the Carpathians) förmed a political and economic unit till 1914, that helped the systematic research on the karst and caves situated here. The ALCADI territory in a narrow sense will be discussed in this historical summary. Early kno wledgc of caves, spontancous cave visiís Just like in other territories in the ALCADI area prehistoric man got into connection with caves, too: dry cavities supplied him with a dwelling place and offered hunting spoils (cave bear) for him already several thousand years ago. Archaeological excavations brought out bone remains and instruments proving the presence of early man in caves. Famous caves from archaeological point of view in the territory arc: Geldloch. Königshöhle in the Alps, Szeleta and Büdöspest in the Bükk Mountains of Hungary, the Baradla Cave at Aggtelek, etc. Man of historical age visited caves for several purposes. Somé lived there as hermits. e.g. the Carthusian monks in the Kartauserhöhle of Lower-Austria between 1512 and 1790, or, to mention László Bátori. a Hungárián hermit living in the cave named after him in the Buda Mountains around 1450. Caves of the Carpathians gave sheller to the escaping inhabitance during the Tatar invasion and the Turkish menace (Torocko Caves, Selim Cave). A huge amount of humán bones was found in the Bene Cave of North-