Arkaim

Arkaim was found in 1987 during survey for a reservoir that would have flooded it, and the excavation was rushed; the dam was cancelled after a public campaign. What was found is a settlement of about the seventeenth century BC, part of the Sintashta group, built as two concentric rings of walls with houses set radially inside like segments, each with a hearth, a well and metallurgical furnaces, and streets with drainage - a planned settlement, occupied for a relatively short time and then deliberately burned and abandoned. The Sintashta sites also produced the earliest known chariot burials. On the ground very little is visible: the walls are earth outlines and the interest is in the museum, the reconstructions and the excavated burial mounds nearby. Since the 1990s the site has attracted a large following of mystics, neopagans and seekers, particularly at the solstice, and their claims about it are not archaeology.

What you actually see

• The ring plan - two concentric walls with houses set radially inside them.
• The furnaces - metallurgical hearths inside individual houses.
• The museum and reconstructions - where most of the actual content is, since the site is faint.
• The solstice crowds - the mystical following the place has attracted since the 1990s.

When to go

May to September. A day. The solstice brings large crowds of a particular kind; avoid it if you want the archaeology.

Honest expectations

There is almost nothing to see on the ground - the structures are outlines in earth. Claims made on site by non-archaeologists about ancient civilisations and energy are not supported by the excavation. Facilities are basic, the steppe is hot and exposed, and it is a long drive from anywhere.

Nearby

The Sintashta group of sites is spread across the surrounding steppe.