Cave City (Solyanoy Brod)

Cave City, also called the Seven Caves, is a group of ten small caves in the rocks on the bank of the Sinara River near the village of Ust-Karabolka in the north of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. The caves lie in the Solyanoy Brod (Salt Ford) area, about 2.5 kilometres from the village, next to an ancient hillfort, one of the archaeological sites of the Sinara valley.

Discovery

The search started from an archaeological report of 1949, which mentioned crevices in the rocks at Solyanoy Brod that might be cave entrances. The speleoarchaeologist Vladimir Yurin followed up on it and described both groups of caves. He called the find unusual: the Sinara valley is mostly flat here, and rock outcrops with caves are rare.

Reports of the discovery place the site in Kunashaksky District, while the regional heritage register lists the neighbouring Solyanoy Brod hillfort under Kaslinsky District.

The caves

The caves form two groups. The Upper Solyanoy Brod group has six or seven caves, the Lower group four. The groups are about 80 metres apart. Most of the caves are small; the longest runs 27 metres into the rock. Yurin hoped that once cleared and surveyed they could become part of a sightseeing route along the Sinara, but for now the place is wild and has no facilities.

The hillfort

Next to the caves, on the left bank of the Sinara below the mouth of the Karabolka, there is an ancient hillfort listed as a cultural heritage site. Its description mentions defensive ramparts about 18 and 57 metres long, the second about a metre high. The surroundings have yielded finds from many periods, from temporary hunters' camps to fortified Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements.

Good to know

Head for the village of Ust-Karabolka; Solyanoy Brod is about 2.5 kilometres away along the Sinara. The caves are not equipped and their entrances are narrow, so do not go inside without gear and experience. The hillfort is a protected archaeological site: digging and collecting finds there is forbidden.