Veleda Cave

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Veleda Cave

Veleda Cave western entrance.JPG
Location: Velmede , North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany
Height : 437  m above sea level NHN
Geographic
location:
51 ° 20 '54.8 "  N , 8 ° 22' 44.5"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 20 '54.8 "  N , 8 ° 22' 44.5"  E
Veleda Cave (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Veleda Cave
Geology: Devonian Sparganophyllum Lime
Type: Dry cave
Lighting: Before the tour, the cave guides give the visitors LED flashlights
Overall length: 70 m
Level difference: 36 m
Average annual number of visitors: about 800
Particularities: The three cave entrances are closed outside of the guided tours.
Website: www.veleda-hoehle.de

The Veleda Cave is a natural and culturally significant cave near Bestwig - Velmede in the Sauerland . Their entire corridor length is 243 m. It is under protection as a ground monument .

Location and appearance

South of Bestwig-Velmede is the Veleda Cave in the narrow band of the Central Devonian Sparganophyllum Limestone . The cave consists of a two-part large hall and a side passage. The side corridor ends after about 80 m in the "Schusterstübchen". The cave is around 50 m deep and is one of the deepest caves in Westphalia.

Three entrances provide access, but only the western one is accessible. All three entrances face north. The middle entrance, the so-called foxhole, can only be crossed by crawling and opens into the upper hall. The east entrance, which is the largest of all entrances, could only be used with ladders. But it allows a great overview of the entire upper hall.

Eastern entrance to the cave

Research history

The Veleda Cave with its large and eye-catching entrances has been known for a long time. In 1910 major excavations were carried out by the geologist Emil Carthaus , who carried out numerous cave excavations in the Sauerland around the turn of the century. So first in 1887 in the Bilstein cave near Warstein , later also in various caves in the Hönnetal .

The finds from this excavation date mainly to the pre-Roman Iron Age (late Hallstatt to Latène period ). Stone Age finds were not made. Remnants - mainly skull bones - of at least 32 people were found in the cave. In addition, various other Iron Age relics such as ceramic shards, jewelry components and spindle whorls were found .

In the 1980s, the Iron Age relics (especially in publications by H. Polenz and Wilhelm Bleicher ) were interpreted as sacrificial remains. The interpretations presented at that time as a cultic place where offerings were made to the subterranean powers, and people are said to have been sacrificed and consumed (cultic cannibalism ), are judged much more cautiously today. The findings can be interpreted as secondary burials.

Folklore peculiarities / name / legend

Folklore sources are familiar with traditional practices from the Veleda cave, which later inspired researchers to develop daring continuity hypotheses. Various customs around Easter are attested.

In the Velmed parish chronicle of 1817, Pastor Eiffler reports:

“... the Velmeders young and old have a habit, which goes back to the most ancient times, of procession to this cave every Easter afternoon. They do so without taking a Christian mark of worship with them, neither do they find one there. They go into the cave and sing and pray in a Christian way. After they have stayed there for a while, they come back and sing Easter carols, just when you ring Vespers at Velmede. "

The local researcher coal reports in his chronicle from 1958 that around 1860 on Easter Sunday before the Easter fire was lit, people went to the cave. Everyone who descended into the cave threw a stone into the lower hall. Another custom was to go to the pond at the bottom of the cave in order to predict a fertile or barren year from the water level. These customs were not carried on after the First World War .

The name of the cave is associated with the Germanic seer Veleda , who is mentioned in Tacitus (Hist., IV, 61, 65). However, Tacitus gives the place of residence of the Veleda as “in a tower on the lip ”, which can hardly be reconciled with the cave near the Ruhr . The cave name seems possible as a scholarly invention of modern times, in which the place name of the neighboring Velmede (which, however, has nothing to do with the personal name Veleda) was combined with the Tacitus report.

In Friedrich Albert Groeteken's book Die Sagen des Sauerlandes the legend "The Hollenloch zu Velmede" is printed about the Veleda cave. According to this legend, the seer Veleda lived temporarily in the cave.

Use as a bunker in World War II

In the vicinity of the cave, 14 residential barracks were built towards the end of the war because of the air raids on the railway systems in Bestwig. When there was an air raid, the Veleda cave was used as a bunker. The population called the settlement Angsthausen. In addition to the slate tunnel on Halbestwiger Strasse, a settlement of 10 barracks was also built in order to use the tunnels there in the event of attacks.

Veleda cave as a protected area

The Veleda Cave is part of the “Hohler Stein” nature reserve and at the same time part of the even larger FFH area “Caves and Tunnels near Olsberg and Bestwig”. The extensive bone finds that Carthaus reported in 1911 speak for their use by animals and humans for thousands of years. As from other Westphalian caves, people in the past centuries brought the soil inputs enriched with phosphates and nitrates due to the numerous animal remains from the cave to fertilize their fields. This is documented by the fact that in 1788 Baron von Kettler was enfeoffed with the Veleda cave as a “saltpeter mine”. The cave is an important habitat for bats . The numerous bat bones that were found in crevices and on ledges in the cave show that the cave has been visited by bats since time immemorial, especially in winter. Bats also visit the cave in late summer in order to fly from here to their hunting grounds at night.

Stalactite approaches

Overall, only a few bats hibernate in the Veleda cave today, and most of them hide well. Of the 12 species that have been recorded here since the middle of the 20th century, the lesser horseshoe bat and the pug bat have now disappeared. As an exception, the Bechstein's bat, which is very rare in North Rhine-Westphalia, was found in the cave . Noteworthy are individual specimens of the northern bat , which regularly use the cave to hibernate. This species has its only occurrence in north-western Germany in the eastern Hochsauerland. There are also special cave-dwelling invertebrate cave crabs in the area. The cave is also winter quarters for fire salamanders .

Access to the cave is only permitted with the approval of the municipality of Bestwig. In order to secure the cave from unauthorized access, it is closed with a barrier. This barrier had to be repaired several times because it was destroyed by illegal cave visitors.

In the course of 2014, stairs and stages were installed in the entrance area and in the upper hall. On May 30th and 31st, 2015, the Velmede-Bestwig village community officially opened the cave so that guided tours are now possible again. The opening times can be found on the homepage of the Velmede-Bestwig village association.

View into the upper hall

See also

literature

  • H. Behaghel: The Iron Age in the area of ​​the Slate Mountains on the right bank of the Rhine. Wiesbaden 1949. (Find images on plate 22).
  • Emil Carthaus : About the excavations in the Veleda cave not far from Velmede in the upper Ruhr valley. Prehistoric Journal. Berlin 1911, pp. 132–144 (with images of selected finds).
  • Friedrich Albert Groeteken: The sagas of the Sauerland . Reprint of the second improved edition. Jos. Grobbel KG, Fredeburg 1983. p. 21.
  • Hochsauerlandkreis - Lower landscape authority: Landscape plan Bestwig (PDF; 915 kB). Meschede 2008.
  • Albert Huyskens : The Meschede district under the fire roller of the Second World War - compiled from the experience reports of many employees from the entire district area and presented on behalf of the district administration. W. Bertelsmann Verlag, Bielefeld 1949. p. 19.
  • Adalbert Kuhn : Legends, customs and fairy tales from Westphalia and some other especially the neighboring areas of northern Germany. Second part: Customs and fairy tales. Leipzig 1859.
  • F. Coal: The municipality of Velmede. From their prehistory and home history. Bigge 1958, in it “The cave near Velmede” pp. 19–28.
  • R. Schröpfer, R. Feldmann, H. Vierhaus: The mammals of Westphalia . Treatise Westf. Mus. Natural 46 (4), Münster 1984.
  • H. Vierhaus: Mysterious night hunters - The bats in the Hochsauerland In: Association for nature and bird protection in the Hochsauerlandkreis e. V. (Ed.): Handbook of Nature: Animal and Plant World in the Hochsauerland , Arnsberg 1998, ISBN 3-00-003345-9 , pp. 137-145.

Web links

Commons : Veleda Cave  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Land use plan for the municipality of Bestwig, explanatory report 2005. (PDF; 1.3 MB) Architects Wolters Partner, Coesfeld, p. 85 , accessed on September 26, 2017 .
  2. Franz Lotze: On the geology of the Westphalian Karst . In: Annual issue 1961: Karst and caves in Westphalia and in the Bergisches Land (=  annual issue for karst and cave studies . Issue 2). Münster 1961, p. 11 f .
  3. Detlef Rothe: Prehistoric and early historical finds in South Westphalian caves . Karst and cave - Contributions to karst and cave research in Westphalia, 1982/83, Munich, p. 105.
  4. ^ Franz-Josef Coal: The saga around the Westphalian caves . In: Annual books for karst and cave research. 2nd annual issue, Münster 1961, pp. 291–291.
  5. ^ "Hohler Stein" nature reserve (HSK-453) in the specialist information system of the State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection in North Rhine-Westphalia , accessed on March 9, 2017.
  6. Natura 2000 area "Caves and galleries near Olsberg and Bestwig" in the specialist information system of the State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection in North Rhine-Westphalia , accessed on March 9, 2017.