Aksamitka Cave

The cave is located in the Stará Ľubovňa district, in the cadastral territory of Haligovce. The entrance is situated on the southern slope of the Haligovské Rocks at elevation of 756 m. The cave is known from long ago. It is a fault-corrosion horizontal inactive cave 335 metres long. The main passage is 225 m long and vertical distance is 18 metres.

The cave is formed in dark grey Triassic limestones by water erosion and corrosion of atmospheric waters along the tectonic faults in NW-SE and SW-NE directions as well as along the interbed surfaces. The origin was also influenced by weathering and breakdown of loosened parts of rock material. Cave fills of various shapes and size, of white, brown, grey to dark grey colour is considerably devastated at present. The temperature ranges between 7-8°C.

A tip of reindeer antler and remains of blade industry were found on cave floor in 1874. The tip age was determined as Palaeolithic from the younger phase of the older Stone Age. These artefacts were left here probably by Magdalénien hunters at the end of the Pleistocene, so the back spaces of the cave couldn’t be sedimented because of its relatively small opening.

Eight bat species were recorded hibernating in the cave the dominant one is the Lesser Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros). Less abundant is the Greater Mouse-eared Bat (Myotis myotis). On the walls there are troglophilic spiders Meta menardi and Metellina merianae. The cave ins known from the palaeontological viewpoint by findings of skeleton remains of cave bears Ursus spelaeus.