Disclosed is a soil processing device (1) for creating cavities in soil (32), comprising a machine frame (4) that can move in the direction of travel, and at least one drive unit (20) that is mounted in the machine frame (4) and moves at least one pivotally mounted digging tool (34) fore and aft in a substantially vertical direction. Before digging into the soil, the digging tool (34) is in a starting position at a predefined digging angle, whereas in the soil (32), the same performs a pivoting movement about a first pivot axis (8) as a result of the machine frame (4) moving in the direction of travel, said pivoting movement being superimposed on the fore-and-aft movement. The soil processing device (1) further comprises a restoring mechanism (12) which is coupled to the digging tool (34) and consists of a piston/cylinder unit along with a spring element (40) that acts on the piston/cylinder unit (19) and brings the digging tool back into the starting position once the latter has emerged from the soil (32), and a damping mechanism (17) which absorbs the shock of the digging tool (34) against the machine frame (4) when the digging tool hits a stop defining the starting position. According to the invention, at least one laterally projecting flange (18) is arranged at the outer free end of the piston rod (19), said flange (18) forming the damping unit (17) together with at least one corresponding flange (20) located at the axially opposite, piston-side end of the cylinder unit (14) and at least one damping element (16) that is located between the two opposite flanges (18, 20) and is secured to one of them (18, 20).
