The next field season of the Phanagoria complex archaeological expedition ended on the Taman Peninsula. Since 2004, it has been a joint project of the Volnoe Delo Foundation of Oleg Deripaska and the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The past season was the 15th in the history of their collaboration. This year, archaeologists have found out the cause of the death of the ancient city in the 10th century, found the burial of a noble family of the 3rd century. BC, discovered the grave of a warrior of the 1st century. with the surviving glass vessel with the embalming liquid.
Archaeological research was carried out at the excavations "Upper City" (the center of the ancient city), "Lower City", Eastern and Western necropolis, as well as on the part of the ancient city flooded by the sea. The works took place on a total area of about 3000 sq. In total, more than 300 people took part in the excavations during the season: employees of scientific and educational centers of the country, university students from Moscow, Krasnodar, Magnitogorsk, Voronezh, Omsk, Samara, Yaroslavl and other cities, volunteers from various regions of Russia.
Field camp of the Fanagoria expedition.
The field season was rich in world-class sensational finds.
On the Upper Plateau, the study of the remains of residential quarters, the first city walls, and other public and religious buildings of the 6th-5th centuries was continued. BC. One of the curious finds is the discovery under the foundation of the oldest temple found in Russia (which died in a fire in the middle of the 5th century BC) of the burnt basement of a 6th century building. BC. with a scattering of antique amphorae and other household items. Archaeologists also managed to discover traces of a mud brick building that preceded the building with a basement. A terracotta figurine of a female deity was found here - presumably, Aphrodite Urania, mistress of Apatura. In Phanagoria there was a sanctuary of this goddess, who was the patroness of the city, famous throughout the ancient Greek world. It is mentioned in his writings by the ancient Greek historian and geographer Strabo. The sanctuary itself has not yet been found.
Breakdowns of amphorae in the layer of conflagration above the basement floors.
At the very end of the field season, the study of an unusual object was completed here, which is a room buried in the ground with an altar, the walls of which were built of adobe bricks. A brick staircase led to it from the surface. Presumably, there was a temple dedicated to the chthonic (underground) gods, in which animal sacrifices were made. The entire complex was destroyed in a massive fire (roughly around 480-470 BC) - possibly during the siege of the city by the Persians. Such sanctuaries, recorded by scientists, are extremely rare for the ancient world - at least, they were previously practically unknown in the Black Sea region.
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At the Nizhniy Gorod excavation site, the dissection and study of the layers of the 8th-9th centuries continued. The main result of research here was the discovery of an entire area of the city of the Byzantine period. For the first time in the Black Sea region, blocks of urban development were found on such a large territory.
Excavations of the Byzantine quarters of Phanagoria.
Excavations have shed light on the later history of Phanagoria, up to the beginning of the 10th century. which remained a large comfortable city. On the basis of the finds, the trade relations of the city with a number of centers of the Eastern Mediterranean have been studied in detail. According to scientists, it was possible to establish the reason for the abandonment of the city by the population at the very beginning of the 10th century: Phanagoria was destroyed and abandoned as a result of an enemy raid. Among the buildings abandoned by the inhabitants 1000 years ago, the remains of the dead were discovered. It is curious that they belonged to the Mongoloid type. Scientists have yet to solve this mystery.
Geophysicists and hydrographers of the underwater team of the expedition completed the next stage of detailed magnetic survey of the seabed in the area of the proposed location of the eastern defensive wall of the city, depth measurements were made, and acoustic profiling of bottom sediments was carried out. The underwater team has completed the clearance of an underwater excavation area of 64 sq. m, located 80 m from the coast. Under a meter layer of sand, here, in addition to the remains of utensils, there is a large number of black-glazed tableware from the 4th century. BC.
This is only a small part of the finds of the archaeologists of the Submarine Detachment.
The most interesting and large-scale finds were made in the Eastern and Western necropolises of the city. Excavations at the Eastern Necropolis are taking place at the site of the future construction of the museum building, the creation of which is being carried out under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of Russia. In the current season, various burial complexes of the 2nd century BC were studied here. BC-V century AD
Here, for the first time during excavations, a unique soil crypt of the Roman era (about the 1st century) was found. At the entrance to the tomb there was a large jug - a burial urn with the remains of a cremated person, still hermetically sealed. Scientists plan to study it using modern methods, without violating the integrity of the vessel. Apparently, the crypt contained 7 expensive wooden sarcophagi that have not survived to this day. Here are found vessels made of Roman glass, red-lacquered dishes, elements of costumes for adults and children, many ornaments, indicating that in the 1st-2nd centuries. The Bosporan kingdom fell under the influence of Rome.
In one of the burials in this crypt (presumably, a noble Phanagorian warrior - a man was buried with a sword in his hand), next to the remains of the deceased, a completely preserved sealed balsamarium was found - a glass vessel filled with liquid. Such a find was made in Phanagoria for the first time and is unique. Previously, archaeologists have found hundreds of such vessels, but they were all empty or filled with soil that had penetrated inside over 2,000 years. The find will be sent to Moscow to analyze the substance.
Burial of a warrior with a sword in his hand and balsamar with liquid at the head.
For the first time in 18 years, studies of the Western necropolis of Phanagoria were resumed, where the ruins of an antique stone tomb (III century BC) were discovered. This is the first modern find of a well-preserved semi-cylindrical vaulted tomb on the Taman Peninsula. The crypt was built in the embankment of an older mound. Remains of a stone vault were found nearby.
Filming of the stone crypt at the Western necropolis of Phanagoria.
Inside the tomb, scientists discovered the remains of at least 10 people - representatives of the city's elite, possibly of its priestly class. According to archaeologists, the crypt was located near the sanctuary of Aphrodite Urania. In addition to the remains of people, fragments of ceramics, weapons, a bronze mirror and a lead weight, coins have been preserved here. The crypt was built according to the latest technology of the time: the limestone slabs were ideally matched to each other at the construction site and stacked without mortar into even masonry, all internal surfaces were sanded. Judging by the materials, the crypt was used until the 2nd century. AD
As usual, during the excavations this year, tens of thousands of pieces of mass archaeological material (for example, numerous fragments of ceramics) were discovered. Among the so-called individual finds stands out, for example, an extremely rare coin - stater 342/343 A. D. the Bosporan king Rheskuporis VI in good condition. It made it possible to clarify the years of the king's reign and put an end to the dispute about the final date of the Bosporan coinage, which has been going on among historians and numismatists for over 100 years.
Note that since 2014, at the end of the field season, the finds have been transferred to the funds of the Fanagoria State Museum-Reserve. This year, the staff of the expedition and the museum continued excursions for organized groups of tourists. The visitors visited the excavations, got acquainted with the work of archaeologists, and were able to see an ancient potter's wheel at work. In total, about 5,000 people visited Phanagoria during the 2018 summer season. By the opening of the season, a booklet was published with funds from the Volnoe Delo Foundation, telling about the history and research of the ancient city.
Hoard of coins from Phanagoria at an exhibition in Krasnodar.
This year, the Phanagoria Science Center hosted the opening of the Antique Heritage of Russia international festival. Within its framework, during the summer in the Krasnodar Regional Museum of History and Local Lore the exhibition “Phanagoria. Archaeological Pearl of Russia”, which presented 366 exhibits from the collection of the Phanagoria Museum.
As a reminder, since 2004, excavations in Phanagoria have been carried out in cooperation with the Volnoe Delo Foundation of Oleg Deripaska. In 2012, the Foundation opened the Phanagoria Science Center, which has modern laboratories and an extensive scientific library. Within the framework of cooperation with the Foundation, the maintenance and equipment of the expedition, its Submarine and Necropolis detachments, extensive publishing activities, equipment of the scientific center and stationary field camp of the expedition, preparation and conduct of various scientific and educational events, as well as - under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of Russia - events are carried out for the development of the Fanagoria Museum-Reserve. During the joint work, a number of world-class scientific discoveries were made.