Beehive stones or beehive rocks of Hungary are rock formations, often naturally conical towers, with niches or cavities carved into their sides. A limited number of rocks with niches can be found even close to Budapest, in the area of the Pilis mountains and the Budai-hegység hills, especially on its Tétényi-fennsík plateau. However, the city most densely surrounded by such formations is Eger, in the Bükkalja area (which lies between the valley of the Tarna stream and the valleys of the Hejő and Szinva streams).
Nature conservation, protected heritage One of the location sites near Szomolya was declared as a national protected area in 1961, named Nature Conservation Area of Beehive Stones at Szomolya (Szomolyai Kaptárkövek Természetvédelmi Terület).Baráz Csaba – Ilonczai Zoltán – Schmotzer András 2007
According to the definition in decree 17/2014 of the Minister of AgricultureMagyar Közlöny 2014. évi 145. szám 17/2014. (X. 27.) FM rendelete (on establishing places of nature remembrance and on nature conservation management plans to protect beehive stones), which came into effect on the 4th of November 2014, a "kaptárkő" (beehive stone) is a natural or artificially altered stone formation that has, on its surface, one or more visible carved niches – and similar artefacts, in some cases – with significance in the history of culture, therefore representing value in the conservation of both landscape/nature and cultural heritage. The purpose of declaring the protected status is to preserve the beehive stones, as well as their immediate natural surroundings, for their natural and cultural significance, and facilitating their research and exhibition for purposes of nature conservation.Árgay Zoltán – Baráz Csaba – Kiss Gábor 2015
Some key restrictions relevant to visitors are the following: You must not carve/alter the stones. You must not even climb on them. You are not allowed to put objects onto them. In such areas, technical sports and extreme sports activities are forbidden. If you want to do research activities at beehive stone sites, consult the relevant national park directorate.
Beehive stones and the stone culture of the Bükkalja region were declared as a Hungarian-specific value (so-called "Hungarikum"), due to its unique natural nature – at the meeting of a committee dealing with Hungarian-specific values (Hungarikum Bizottság), on the 17th of June 2016.
Origin The Bükkalja is predominantly made up of volcanic tuffs, created by intense volcanic activities (series of explosive eruptions) in the Miocene. The special, conical rocks and rock groups of the Bükkalja had been prepared from the ground surface composed of mostly ash-flow tuffs and ignimbrites with rhyolitic ingredients, by the key factors of landscape formation in the ice-age, namely: downcutting and lateral erosion, attrition, weathering, rinsing effects of wind and precipitation, and frost erosion. These rocks were shaped further artificially. Thus, beehive rocks are valuable in both natural and cultural history aspects.
Naming The rocks with niches were first called beehive stones (singular: "kaptárkő", plural: "kaptárkövek") by residents of Szomolya, maybe after the meadow adjacent to a group of rocks, where beehives could be stored (Kaptár-rét = Beehive meadow). Near the city of Eger, such rocks were called stones with dummy windows (vakablakos kövek). Some other names known from elsewhere: stones with churns (köpüskövek), idol stones (bálványkövek), mitre (püspöksüveg). Names of some specific rocks are also informative: Ördögtorony [Devil-tower], Ördög-kő [Devil stone], Bábaszék [Midwife-seat], Nyerges [Saddled], Királyszéke [King's seat], Kősárkány [Stone Dragon]. The most consistently applied wording by the first known thorough researcher and connoisseur of rocks with niches (Gyula Bartalos, 1839–1923) was memorial rock or memorial stone (emlékszikla or emlékkő), but he used other names as well: rock pyramid (sziklalobor), carved group of rocks (faragott sziklacsoport), memorial rock with dummy windows (vakablakos emlékszikla), megalith stones (megalit kövek) and stone with churns (köpüskő). Later, largely due to the research and studies by Andor Saád, beehive stone (kaptárkő) had become the most widespread and common term. This naming was applied in later studies by researchers working on resolving the mystery of such rocks: Ferenc Kubinyi, Gyula Bartalos, Gáspár Klein, Andor Saád, Péter Mihály and Csaba Baráz.
The most debated aspects were the origin and intended use of the niches carved into the sides of the rock formations.
Niches On average, niches are 60-cm high, 30-cm wide and 25 to 30-cm deep. In well-preserved niches, the recessed rims along the edges (some with holes on the sides) are still observable. These may be signs of niche covers mounted with pegs or wedges hammered into the holes. Niches with still visible rim marks were arranged quite unevenly on the rock sides. The exceptional diversity of niche shapes required custom cover sizes and shapes for each niche. Based on certain considerations, the rims could even have decorative or informative purpose.
Location sites
The most typical ones can be found in the area surrounding Eger (Nyerges-hegy, Mész-tető, Cakó-tető), near Szomolya (Vén-hegy, Kaptár-rét) and near Cserépváralja (Nagykúp on the Mangó-tető, Furgál-völgy, Csordás-völgy). You can find such rocks also in the areas surrounding Sirok, Egerbakta, Egerszalók, Ostoros, Noszvaj, Bogács, Cserépfalu, Tibolddaróc and Kács. In the Bükkalja area altogether, 479 niches on 82 beehive rocks at 41 sites are known. These are listed (with details) in the table, and described in the Beehive rock registry (for the Bükkalja area) section of the Hungarian article.
A smaller number of beehive rocks can be found in Pest county – on the Tétényi-fennsík plateau, on the Budai-hegység hills, in the Pilis mountains and in the Visegrádi-hegység mountains. In this area, 86 niches on 31 rock formations at 17 sites are known.
Apart from the two collective areas above, some separate location sites are known as well. The easternmost known beehive rock is the Ördög-szikla [Devil rock] (B.1; 5 niches) in the Hömpörgő-völgy valley at Abaújszántó. There is a location site also on the Medves-fennsík plateau, on the Pécs-kő hill (4 niches) near Salgótarján. 2 niches on the Haraszt-hegy hill at Csákvár became known in 2007. In the area of Balaton-felvidék (the northern vicinity of lake Balaton), two distinct location sites are known: one on the Óvár-hegy hill of Tihany (Barátlakások [Monk habitats], 1 niche) and one on the Part-fő of Balatonkenese (Tatárlik [Tatar hole], 1 niche).
In Hungary altogether, up till 2013, 564 niches on 104 rock formations at 56 sites had been surveyed topographically. [Only those rocks with niches are registered as beehive rocks for which the topographic survey of the niches has been carried out accordingly to the classification system and methodology developed by Péter Mihály. Therefore, from the separate location sites, only the Ördög-szikla [Devil rock] (B.1) of the Hömpörgő-völgy valley near Abaújszántó is included.]
List of beehive rock location sites in the Bükkalja area ID Name of rock (group) or location Name of human settlement Number of rocks with niches Number of niches B2 Kecske-kő [Goat stone] Kács 1 3 B3 Ablakoskő-völgy [Valley of stone with windows], Karud alja és árnyék [shadowy bottom of the Karud hill] Tibolddaróc 1 6 B4a Setét-völgy [Dark valley] Cserépváralja 1 5 B4b Koldustaszító [Beggar toppler] Cserépváralja 1 6 B4c Köves-lápa [Stony valley], SW slope of the Karud hill Cserépváralja 2 11 B4d Nagy-Bábaszék [Great Midwife-seat] - Bábaszék [Midwife-seat] Cserépváralja 1 12 B4e Nagy-Bábaszék [Great Midwife-seat] - Szőlő-tető [Grape hill] Cserépváralja 1 1 B4f Nagy-Bábaszék [Great Midwife-seat] - Nyúl-völgy-oldal [side of Hare valley] Cserépváralja 1 1 B4g Furgál-völgy [Holed valley] Cserépváralja 5 32 B4h Csordás-völgy [Cowherd valley] Cserépváralja 5 31 B4i Mangó-tető hill - Nagykúp [Large-cone], Kiskúp [Small-cone] Cserépváralja 2 30 B4j Vén-hegy [Age-old hill of Cserépváralja] Cserépváralja 2 3 B5 Ördögtorony [Devil-tower] - Mész-hegy hill Cserépfalu 1 3 B6 Hintó-völgy [Carriage valley] Bogács 1 5 B7a Vén-hegy [Age-old hill of Szomolya] - Kaptár-rét [Beehive meadow], Kaptár-völgy [Beehive valley] Szomolya 8 117 B7b Ispán-berki-tető hill Szomolya 3 7 B7c Gyűr-hegy [Creased hill] (rock ruined in the early 21st century) Szomolya 1 4 B7d Csobánka Szomolya 1 4 B8 Pokololdal [Hell-side] - Bábaszék [Midwife-seat] Tard 1 2 H1a Farkas-kő [Wolf stone] - Pocem Noszvaj 1 1 H1b Dóc [Prop] Noszvaj 3 6 H1c Pipis-hegy hill Noszvaj 1 2 H2a Cakó-tető hill Eger 4 36 H2b Mész-völgyi szikla [rock of the Mész-völgy valley] Eger 1 6 H2c Mész-hegy hill, southern group of rocks Eger 3 22 H2d Nyerges-hegy [Saddled hill] east slope Eger 1 7 H2e Nyerges-hegy [Saddled hill] west slope Eger 4 20 H2f Pajdos Ostoros 2 10 H3a Betyárbújó [Outlaw-shelter] - Öreg-hegy [Old hill] Egerszalók 1 1 H3b Menyecske-hegy [Young-wife hill] Egerszalók 2 4 H3c Kőbújó [Stone shelter] Egerszalók 1 - H4a Bányaél [Mine-edge] - Kő-tető hill Demjén 1 23 H4b-c Hegyes-kő-tető hill and Eresztvény-völgy valley Demjén 8 36 H4d Remete-völgy [Hermit valley] Demjén 1 6 H5 Szent-völgy [Sacred valley] Egerbakta 1 3 H6a Rozsnak-völgy valley Sirok 1 1 H6b Törökasztal [Turk table] and Bálványkövek [Idol stones] Sirok 1 3 H6c Vár-hegy [Castle hill] of Sirok Sirok 2 3 H6d Földkunyhó-tető [Soil-hut hill] Sirok 1 - H7a Vizes-völgy [Wet valley] Ostoros 1 1 H6b Tag-gödör swale Ostoros 2 5 Altogether in the Bükkalja: 82 479
History of research Regarding the intended use of the "beehive" niches, a number of theories has arisen. The first known thorough researcher of the subject area was Gyula Bartalos, a historian and archaeologist priest from Eger. His theory was that the beehive rocks had been shrines, with ashes of human remains put into the niches. He linked the carving of rock niches to "Hun" Hungarians first, and to Celts and Scythians later. Gáspár Klein, a chief archivist of Borsod county, suggested that the dummy windows could have served as idol niches, and dated them to the age of the so-called Hungarian conquest (9th–10th centuries). Bartalos had already mentioned the currently most accepted opinion (that the niches had been used for beekeeping), with expressing his doubts: "Ordinary people who tend to guess right away call these rocks «beehive rocks»; they think these could have been apiaries of ancient people, as if bees would live in rocks and on shadowy sides". – published in the Archaeologiai Értesítő [Archaeology Newsletter], 1891. The dominant agent of the beekeeping opinion was Andor Saád, a medical doctor from the city of Miskolc. In the early 1960s, he even conducted some archaeological excavations in front of beehive rocks, with archaeologist József Korek, at sites near Cserépváralja and Szomolya. However, their archaeological finds, dated to the 11th–14th centuries, could not justify any of the theories.Saád, Andor – Korek, József (1965): Denkmäler der Frühmittelalterlichen Imkerei am Fuss des Bükkgebirges. Die Fragen der Felsen mit Bienennischen. Acta Archaeologica Hungarica XVII. 369–394.
Archaeological excavations The number of archaeological excavations conducted to reveal the secret of beehive rocks is relatively low, and those few did not bring up many finds.