Legendary Troy with no less legendary history, the Mayan sunny city with mysterious letters, Lord Novgorod the Great with intricate signs and letters on birch bark, ancient Olbia … Their past splendor is striking to this day. On the Black Sea coast not far from Evpatoria, archaeologists have discovered an architectural structure, which is more than two millennia old. The technical design of the buildings was also quite peculiar. Scientists have come to the conclusion that the mysterious city - "teikhe" has no equal in the entire Northern Black Sea region. Moreover, he is a mute witness to events about which very little is known.
Stones and authorities
At first everything was simple: a bucket. excavator "found" a white rectangular stone in a sandy pit, and scientists became interested in it. Then it went much more difficult. It turned out that the discovery could call into question the position established in science after many years of dispute. Moreover, the participants in the dispute were such historical authorities as Polybius, Strabo, Stephen of Byzantium, and the ancient Chersonesos.
There is no doubt that the white rectangle - kvadr - was nothing more than a building material widespread in the ancient world. And he got here, in the western Crimea, not from Miletus or Heraclea, but was made by local craftsmen (Greek merchants and colonists used such stones first as ballast to maintain the stability of their ships, and then as building material).
But why did these sure signs of big city-states end up here? After all, if we look at the map of Crimea of the last centuries BC, we will find that there are not so many cities on its western coast. In the south, Chersonesos, to the north, in the depths of the Evpatoria Bay, Kerkinitida and small Kalos Limen (Beautiful Harbor). That's probably all. And suddenly these white quadras, ideal in their geometry. Precisely quadras, because the first was followed by the second, followed by the third, after which the archaeologists decided to dig.
This is a strange, strange "teikhe"
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Back in 1876, when during excavations in Chersonesos they found a marble pedestal from under the statue of the Pontic commander Diophantus with the text of a decree in honor of his victory over the Scythians, historians drew attention to the word "teikhe" mentioned in it. In translation, it meant "walls".
Talking about the reasons for the campaign of Diophantus, the authors of the decree reported that it was caused by the advance of the Scythians and their capture of Kerkinitida, the Beautiful Harbor, as well as "teikhe". Having come to the aid of Chersonesos, the troops of Diophantus captured Kerkinitida, "teikhe" and laid siege to the Beautiful Harbor. So it is written in the decree.
Meanwhile, Polybius and Stephen of Byzantine testified to the existence of the Achaean fortress, which bore an almost identical name - "teikhes". Strabo also speaks about the fortress, who reports that “Diophantus, although it was going towards winter, took his soldiers and the very first of the citizens, moved to the Scythians, but due to bad weather he turned to seaside places, took possession of Kerkinite, a fortified castle, and rushed to besiege inhabitants of the Fair Harbor."
Obviously, we are talking about a large settlement. But in 1891 in Chersonesos they found a stele with the civil oath of the townspeople. In its 57 lines, the word "teikhe" is mentioned three times. Now let us remember that Diophantus' campaigns date back to the end of the second century BC, and the oath appeared almost two centuries earlier. This is how the hypothesis arose that "teikhe" was not the name of one city, but the name of several small fortified points of the trading post of Chereones, created both to protect against the Scythians and to maintain trade relations with them. This point of view has been confirmed, but there is still no consensus. And that's why. In the decree in honor of Diophantus, everything, it turns out, is not entirely clear. In the ninth line, "teikhe" is called "other fortifications", which speaks of a common noun interpretation. At the same time, the decree does not contain the names of cities or fortresses,except for the Beautiful Harbor, with the article in front, and in front of the teikhe it is. Of course, one cannot discount the gulf of time of almost two hundred years separating these two epigraphic monuments, but such are the facts. And yet, back to the white squares.
Lonely "Seagull"
Archeologists moved forward meter by meter, and with each movement of the shovel, new parts of an unknown, but very large structure appeared from time immemorial. In just two months, more than ten rooms of the basement floor of a monumental building built in the 4th century BC were uncovered. e. This was confirmed by the Heraclean hallmarks found here and a lamp wrapped in a thin lead plate.
A new device helped archaeologists at that time - a semiconductor electrical explorer-compensator, the action of which is based on differences in electrical resistances, in this case, sand and limestone. His testimony confirmed the assumption that the masonry continued almost ten meters along the edge and went quite far into the depth, forming several more rooms. And now part of the structure was completely cleaned out.
The masonry, impeccable in form, stretched strictly from north to south and from west to east. Along the eastern wall, the remains of the towers that had once been here were clearly visible in the corners and in the center at a distance of forty meters from each other. At this distance, and no further, a thrown Greek spear could strike the enemy. But, what is most surprising, above all this, forming a kind of second tier, one more structure towered, separated from the first by a small layer of sand.
That its builders were Scythians, scientists determined at once - The original, rare Scythian "herringbone" was replaced by masonry, consisting of a mixture of broken quadras and the so-called "torn stone". At the same time, it was striking that the corners of the premises were slightly rounded, the wall in the section resembled a trapezoid. This is the surest sign of the Scythian construction technique. Are the walls really?
It is also noteworthy that there were early and late buildings on the second tier. The Scythians built up their defenses gradually. Successively, in three stages, they erected fortifications in the northern, middle and southern parts of the settlement. A six-meter wide sand embankment was reinforced inside and outside by stone retaining walls. From the outside, the rampart rose at the level of a modern two-story house, and inside, at a height of one and a half meters, a stone wall began, about four meters wide. Even if you study the history of fortification very carefully, you will not find such a technique of using sand there. There are flat stone quadrangles with perfectly preserved masonry around.
It would seem that archaeologists have already gone through the whole Crimea and put on the maps the largest cities of antiquity, the architecture of which, by the way, has much in common. And yet here it is, one of the fortifications, or the "teikhe" itself, stands somewhat apart, not much like its neighbors. The settlement is still conditionally called "The Seagull", but who knows if it will have to be replaced and historical justice restored?
Along the Scythian
Archaeologists have encountered many more "X's and Games". Both the Greek and Scythian stages were not particularly pleasing with the finds. Even pottery was not enough. Pleasant exceptions were a sculptural image of Hercules resting under a tree and a bronze figurine of an Amazon racing on a horse, made by skillful hands of ancient craftsmen. The finds seemed to complement the main sensations of The Seagull, but many are certainly still ahead.
In the Scythian part, several streets have been opened, leading, by all indications, to the central square. Following along the Scythian, archaeologists found vessels, bronze nails, fasteners in the premises. In one of the vessels, for example, a completely intact skeleton of a ram was found.
Excavations on the Scythian stage have revealed a unique architectural ensemble, perfectly preserved, but not very rich in material. The mounds that are not far from the "Chaika", behind the estuary, told a lot of interesting things. There are about twenty of them. And there are mysteries here. Burials are arranged in shallow pits, stone boxes and, occasionally, in stone crypts. Many "children's" burials in amphorae were also discovered. Most of the graves have been robbed. True, in some of them it was possible to find vessels of various shapes, rings, bracelets and other Greek and Scythian jewelry of the 4th-3rd centuries BC. e.
Under what circumstances did the Greeks leave such inhabited places? Did the fortification have a name and if so, what name? Why didn't the Scythians who came here stayed especially long? Did the commander of the Pontic king Diophantus really visit here, and later even the Romans dropped in? The answers to all these and many other questions are hidden at the crossroads invisible under the olive trees.
Research continues
Excavations at the ancient settlement "Chaika" near Yevpatoria were first begun in 1959 under the leadership of Alexander Nikolaevich Karasev, a researcher at the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences. An area of about 6,500 square meters has now been disclosed.
Greek settlers appeared here at the end of the 5th century BC. e. But little is known about this early settlement, since the building remains of this time were partially "covered", partially destroyed by somewhat later Greek construction. IV-III centuries BC e. associated with the stay here of the Chersonesos, who, as is known from written sources, were approved by the 3rd century BC. e. on the fertile lands of the coast of the northwestern Crimea. Chersonesos needed these lands to provide the inhabitants with bread and for trade with the Greek cities of the Mediterranean.
The first evidence of the attempts of the Scythians to seize the Kherson settlements and fortresses of the north-western coast of Crimea is given by the text of the oath of the Kherson citizens.
The building remains of the 4th – 3rd centuries BC discovered at the "Seagull" e. give the following picture. Here in the IV century BC. e. In keeping with the best traditions of the Greek art of construction, the Chareonesians erected a monumental architectural structure covering an area of about 5 thousand square meters. This structure, partially discovered by A. N. Karasev, was interpreted by the researcher as a fortified warehouse architectural complex: a fortress-warehouse for storing (before sending it to Chersonesos) bread collected from residents of agricultural settlements located near the fortress. The first destruction and reconstruction of this complex dates back to the beginning of the 3rd century BC. e. Then the later destruction of the restored and rebuilt architectural complexes, dated within the 3rd and mid-2nd centuries BC, was traced. e.
These facts, when compared with written sources, say definitely that the Greeks left here under the pressure of the Scythians.
It is much more difficult at present to answer another question: did the commander of the Pontic king Diophantus really visit? At the beginning of the work, this question did not raise doubts about a positive answer. Now, after the almost complete disclosure of the Scythian fortress, at least its initial core (this was done only in 1976), the impression is created (careful processing of the materials of recent years will make it possible to speak about this in the near future more definitely) that the Scythian fortress was erected on the cultural layer, dating back to the turn of the 2nd-1st centuries BC, in other words, it was built after the campaigns of Diophantus. Therefore, one can almost certainly say that Diophantus could not take this fortress, since it was not yet built. However, this provision does not completely exclude the possibility of the appearance of the troops of Diophantus here. After all, the Scythians could at that time use the Greek defenses partially restored by them, which in some places (as noted by A. N. Karasev) retained traces of their repair by the Scythians.
As for the defensive structures of the Scythians, it really was at first assumed that the eastern defensive line consisted of two stone belts with sand between them. Now it turned out that this is not entirely true.
Living quarters adjoined directly to the outer belt, from the roofs of which residents could repel enemy attacks, for example, by installing light throwing weapons. This is confirmed by the opening of the stairs leading to the roofs. In addition, the western wall had two protruding towers that protected the entrance to the fortress. During the excavations, no definite data was obtained that allow us to speak about the presence of the Romans here. Of course, the Tchaikinsky monument is not so rich in finds. And yet, in the premises of the Greek and Scythian housing complexes there is a lot of interesting, mainly ceramics.
The Greek strata were especially rich. Here heaps of fallen roofing tiles were found, amphorae, pithos, kitchen pots, lamps, black-lacquered ceramics - bowls, cups, dishes, terracotta figurines were found. Scythian rooms are less evenly saturated with finds. Some contained many finds, while others contained almost nothing. The list of unique finds can be somewhat replenished with such things as a lime relief depicting a horseman, a black-lacquered goblet on legs, made in the form of sculpted heads of blacks.
Already in 1976, a fragment of the upper part of the terracotta figurine of Demeter-Cora with preserved coloring was found. The face of the goddess, the headdress and the background on which the headdress is given are covered with white paint, the hair is brown, the semicircular edge of the background is emphasized with a bright blue border. The life of the ancient city is revealed more and more fully.