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 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