Azov Mountain

Azov Mountain rises eight kilometres from Polevskoy, near the settlement of Zyuzelsky: Bolshoy (Great) Azov reaches 589 metres, with Malyy (Little) Azov to the south at 565 metres. The summits are crowned by rocks up to 25 metres high — spheroidal basaltic lava flows cut by diabase dikes, opening panoramas of forests and Polevskoy from the lookouts. The mountain is one of the most interesting archaeological sites of the Middle Urals. In September 1940 schoolchildren discovered a hoard of 44 copper and bronze ritual objects in the Perm animal style, dated to the 4th–3rd centuries BC and linked to the Itkul culture. Archaeologist Yevgenia Bers believed the summit served as a sanctuary in the Iron Age; idols facing east once stood in a grotto. Ural legends about the mountain were retold by Pavel Bazhov in his tale 'The Dear Name': the maiden Azovka guards treasure inside the mountain, and the 'old people' supposedly lived in its cave. Scientists, however, argue that true caves cannot exist here — the mountain is volcanic, and the 'caves' mentioned by a 1914 encyclopedia were most likely workings or collapsed grottoes. The toponym is explained from the Turkic 'azau' — 'tooth', after the shape of the rocks; another version ties it to a robber named Azov. Since the 1960s the summit has been protected as a nature monument of 217 hectares with geological, geomorphological and historical profiles. Today an equipped trail called 'The Legends of Azov Mountain' leads to the top.