 But perhaps most famous of the ancient settlements on the Kura is the "cave town" at Uplistsikhe, Georgia, first settled as early as 3,500 years ago.The city, carved into a cliff on the bank of the Kura covering an area of , contains underground living quarters, communal chambers, places of worship, storerooms, connected by a network of passageways.It reached its peak about 1,100 years ago as the political, religious and cultural center of the region, but in the 13th century, it fell to Mongolian invaders.