List of caves in Russia

A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, ^{[1] [2]} specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word cave can also refer to much smaller openings such as sea caves, rock shelters, and grottos, though strictly speaking a cave is exogene, meaning it is deeper than its opening is wide, ^[3] and a rock shelter is endogene. ^[4]

List of Caves in Russia

Name	Location	Picture	Notes
Akhshtyrskaya Cave	Krasnodar Krai		The Akhshtyrskaya cave (Big Kazachebrodskaya) is a notable archeological site in the Western Caucasus. It is located on the right side of Akhshtyrskaya gorge of the Mzymta River near the Adlersky City District of Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It was discovered in September 1903 by Edouard Martel and Gabriel Revinko, a resident of the nearby village of Kazachy Brod. The cave is named after the local village of Akhshtyr and the alternative name after the village of Kazachy Brod.
Avilova Cave	Belokalitvinsky District		Avilova Cave is the cave that is situated in Avilovy Mountains in Belokalitvinsky District in Rostov Oblast. [5]
Barsukovskaya Cave	Novosibirsk Oblast		Barsukovskaya Cave is a karst cave in Maslyaninsky District of Novosibirsk Oblast. Its length is more than 100 meters. The depth of the cave is 19 meters.
Chertovy Vorota Cave	Primorsky Krai		Chertovy Vorota Cave (known as Devil's Gate Cave in English) is a Neolithic archaeological site located in the Sikhote-Alin mountains, about 12 km (7 mi) from the town of Dalnegorsk in Primorsky Krai, Russia. The karst cave is located on a limestone cliff and lies about 35 m (115 ft) above the Krivaya River, a tributary of the Rudnaya River, below. Chertovy Vorota provides secure evidence for some of the oldest surviving textiles found in the archaeological record.
Denisova Cave	Soloneshensky District		Denisova Cave is a cave in the Bashelaksky Range of the Altai mountains, Siberia, Russia. The cave has provided items of great paleoarchaeological and paleontological interest. Bone fragments of the Denisova hominin originate from the cave, including artifacts dated to around 40,000 BP. A 32,000-year-old prehistoric species of horse has also been found in the cave.
Ignatievka Cave	Sim, Chelyabinsk Oblast		Ignatievka Cave is a large limestone cave on the banks of the Sim River, a tributary of the Belaya river in the southern Ural Mountains of Russia. [6] [7] In 1980 a parietal wall painting of a venus figure was discovered. The twenty-eight red dots between her legs are believed to represent the female menstrual cycle. [8] [9]
Kapova Cave	Burzyansky District		Kapova cave is a limestone karst cave in the Burzyansky District of Bashkortostan, Russia, ca. 200 km (120 mi) south-east of Ufa, in the southern Ural mountains. Located on the Belaya River in the natural reserve Shulgan-Tash, the cave is best known for the 16,000 years old Upper Paleolithic rock paintings and drawings.
Kinderle Cave	Gafuriysky District		Kinderle Cave is the second longest cave in the Southern Urals. It is located on the territory of the Zilim Nature Park, 5 km from the village of Tashasti on the right bank of the Kinderle River in Bashkortostan, Russia. The cave was formed in the Devonian period and consists of 4 horizontal floors.
Kungur Ice Cave	Kungur		Kungur Ice Cave is a karst cave located in the Urals, near the town Kungur in Perm Krai, Russia, [10] on the right bank of the Sylva River. The cave is noted for its ice formations and is a popular tourist landmark.
Kurgazak cave	Chelyabinsk oblast		Kurgazak Cave (Russian: Кургазакская пещера) is a cave in the Ural Mountains, in the Ay River valley. Located in the Chelyabinsk oblast, Russia, and between the villages Mezhevoy Alexeevka is a natural monument. The first mention of the cave belongs to the second half of the 18th century, when it was described by Peter Simon Pallas academician.
Marble Cave	Crimea		Marble Caves is a cave in Crimea, at the lower plateau of Chatyr-Dag, mountainous massif. It is a popular tourist attraction being one of the most visited caves in Europe. Due to its uniqueness, the Marble Cave became famous worldwide. Speleologists consider it among the top five most beautiful caves of the planet, and one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Ukraine. [11] In 1992, it was included in the International Association of equipped caves.
Mezmaiskaya cave	Sukhoi Kurdzhips		Mezmaiskaya Cave is a prehistoric cave site overlooking the right bank of the Sukhoi Kurdzhips (a tributary of the Kurdzhips River) in the southern Russian Republic of Adygea, located in the northwestern foothills of the North Caucasus in the Caucasus Mountains system.
Okladnikov Cave	Soloneshensky District		Okladnikov Cave is a paleoanthropological site located in the foothills of the Altai Mountains in Soloneshensky District, Altai Krai in southern Siberia, Russia. The cave faces south and is located on a Devonian karst escarpment, lying about 14 metres (46 ft) above the left bank of the Sibiryachikha River valley below; the river itself is a tributary of the Anuy River.
Orda Cave	Perm Krai		Orda Cave is a gypsum crystal cave found underneath the western Ural Mountains. The mouth is near the shore of the Kungur River just outside Orda, Perm Krai in Russia. The cave system stretches over 5.1 kilometres (3.2 mi) with around 4.8 kilometres (3.0 mi) over the overall length being under water. This makes it one of the longest underwater caves and the largest underwater gypsum cave in the world. It contains the longest siphon in the former Soviet Union (935 meters). [12]
Salavat Yulayev Cave	Ishimbaysky District		The Salavat Yulayev Cave, also known as the Cave of Salavat Yulayev or Salavat Cave is a cave located in the Ishimbaysky District, Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia, and is seven kilometers from the village of Makarovo. The cave forms part of the Kalim-Uscan rock, which is located under the Sikasya river; it is composed of three distinct levels and is around 35 meters long. The cave was named after the film Salavat Yulaev as filming was done there, despite a local belief that it was the cave where Bashkir hero Salavat Yulaev hid. [13] [14] [15]
Sugomak Cave	Kyshtym		Sugomak Cave is located in Ural, on the east slope of the Sugomak Mountain near the town of Kyshtym. The Sugomak Cave is the only cavity in Ural developed in marble by water. [16] It is the main local sight and represents a cavity consisting of three grottos which are connected by narrow passages. The third grotto is partially filled by water.
Syukeyevo Caves	Kamsko-Ustyinski District		Syukeyevo Caves were a group of caves in what is today Kamsko-Ustyinski District, Tatarstan, Russia. Located near the village of Syukeyevo until the 1958, they were destroyed by an eruption of the banks of the newly filled Kuybyshev Reservoir.
Vorontsovka Caves	Khosta and Adler, Sochi		The Vorontsovskaya Cave System is a long chain of caves in the Khosta and Adler districts of Sochi, Russia. It is part of a range of Mesozoic limestones that runs parallel to the Black Sea coast for 400 km. and contains the Voronya Cave, the world's deepest cave.
Vyalova cave	Crimea

References

1. Whitney, W. D. (1889). "Cave, n.1." def. 1. The Century dictionary: An encyclopedic lexicon of the English language (Vol. 1, p. 871). New York: The Century Co.
2. "Cave" Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009
3. Moratto, Michael J. (2014). California Archaeology. Academic Press. p. 304. ISBN   9781483277356.
4. Lowe, J. John; Walker, Michael J. C. (2014). Reconstructing Quaternary Environments. Routledge. pp. 141–42. ISBN   9781317753711.
5. "Древние пещеры Сарматских гор". www.rostov.aif.ru. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
6. Bahn, Paul G. (1993), Collins Dictionary of Archaeology, ABC-CLIO, p.  224, ISBN   0-87436-744-1 .
7. Shirokov, Vladimir (2002), Review of the Ural cave and rock art, The Northern Archaeological Congress, archived from the original on 2007-08-10
8. Rudgley, Richard (1998), Lost Civilisations of the Stone Age, Century, p. 196, ISBN   0-7126-7758-5 .
9. Blackledge, Catherine (2004), The Story of V: A Natural History of Female Sexuality , Rutgers University Press, p.  37, ISBN   0-8135-3455-0 .
10. "Russia.rin.ru retrieved 13th Dec 2009". Archived from the original on 2012-02-18. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
11. "Мармурова печера (АР Крим)". 7chudes.in.ua. Archived from the original on 2013-05-11.
12. Владимирович, Т.В. (2013). Россия глазами блогера. Издательство "Вече". p. 193. ISBN   9785444470077 . Retrieved 5 July 2015.
13. "Cave Salavat". Survinat. 22 October 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
14. "Пещера Салавата. Идрисовская пещера". Путешествие по Башкирии (in Russian). 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
15. "Водопад Кук-Караук, скала Килим-Ускан и пещера Салавата". NashUral (in Russian). 14 April 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
16. Map of anomalous zones in Urals (in Russian)