Bračkova špilja is a cave and archaeological site in Zagorje about long, located on the north slope of the Ivanščica massif. It is a dry horizontal cave with a wide entrance at the foot of a short cliff. It is sometimes highlighted as the most prominent cave on Ivanščica, and has the most extensive literature of any of its caves. It is difficult to access, but a tourist path has been planned.
Name.
Bračkova špilja is not to be confused with Bračkova jama, a nearby pit cave deep also known as Markova jama na Ivanščici.
Description.
The cave is located in the ravine of the Šumec, which cuts through the Dubrava peak. It is horizontal, sloped slightly upwards towards the back, narrower both horizontally and vertically with progression. The inclination was sufficient to prevent the accumulation of sediment on the cave floor The width of the cave near the entrance is about . The entrance is difficult to reach for reasons of inclination.
A map of the cave drawn in 2008 by Hrvoje Cvitanović and colleagues was published in 2012. An older map is kept at the "Arhiv Arheološkega odsjeka" of the . Continuously updated databases with information on the cave include the "Speleological and Biospeleological Cadastre of Varaždin County" () begun by Roman Ozimec in 2008, and the national "Cadastre of Speleological Objects of the Republic of Croatia" (). Both are closed to the public but excerpts from the latter are available at "Bioportal".
History.
Bračkova špilja has long been known to locals. According to a Lepoglava prison guard asked by , who had found an icon of the Mother of God inside the cave in 1947, the Pauline monks at the former monastery had placed the icon there, allegedly to deter visitors from "pagan" practices.
In literature, the cave was first listed by in 1905 among the caves of Zagorje. Subsequent mentions came in 1946, 1961, 1990, 2001, and so on.
The cave was featured and labelled on the 1979 topographic map of scale) 1:5000, and later on the 2003 topographic map.
Long known to be a potential archaeological site, Stjepan Vuković carried out a test dig in 1947. After one of his students discovered of a "Slavic" pottery sherd with a wavy line on the small plateau in front of the cave, Vuković happened on the cave entrance on the 5th of April that year. Their plateau excavations had been carried out during WWII.
The carried out a new archaeological survey of Bračkova špilja in 2008.
Climate.
The air temperature of the cave is , with a soil temperature of . The relative humidity is 94%, and the carbon dioxide concentration 875 ppm at .
Archaeology.
Like the nearby sites of , Vindija, Šincekova špilja, and Veternica, the Bračkova špilja site includes finds from the Late Bronze Age. By the Early Iron Age, the number of inhabited caves in the region had decreased, but still included Bračkova špilja, Mačkova špilja, Vindija, and Veternica. Unlike the Bronze Age, no Iron Age hoards have been found. Some finds in and around the cave have been dated as late as Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Being a cave of small dimensions and difficult access. Špoljar assumes that Bračkova špilja was only used as a temporary refuge, despite the excavation of a thick ash layer on the plateau before the cave.
Archaeological remains are kept at the Varaždin City Museum under inventory numbers 1851–1858 and 6391 A–B.
Biology.
Pseudoscorpions of the genus "Chthonus" were found in the cave in the 2008 expedition. A species of cave spider was photographed remains unidentified, as with the Acari, Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Lepidoptera, and Diptera species also found.
Tourism.
A tourist path has been planned from Šumec to Bračkova jama and Bračkova špilja, and from there to Voska luknja and Voska špilja, then to Šumec and Karlova špilja, then to Generalka and Polušpilja Generalski Stol.