Tschatyrdag, an Unknown Roman Sentry Post on the Southern Crimean Coast?

Abstract

Since 1997, researchers from the Institute of Archaeology, Warsaw University have been finding traces of Roman military presence in Crimea. Excavations have helped to discover several structures connected with the presence of Roman troops on the north coast of the Black Sea. The first Roman military installation to be discovered and excavated in the Crimea was the ruins of a fort on the Ai-Todor cape (ancient Charax). In the neighborhood of the fort, a barbarian burial ground was found which revealed a burying tradition atypical of the Crimea: cremation in common, the deposition of ashes in amphorae and equipping graves with iron tools and pieces of weaponry. Such a burial site is practically unique in the Crimea. The most similar typologically, and that has been excavated and described in print is the necropolis at Tschatyrdag. It is important to establish whether people from the barbarian garrison were buried near a fort which had been built by Roman soldiers. An initial survey of Tschatyrdag in the spring of 2008 produced several sections of stone embankments and many single well dressed stone blocks. In the course of fieldwork in the summer of 2008, the best preserved part of the defensive wall with the straight line of the wall face was found. Research so far suggests that the fortification was built in first centuries of AD. Further excavations may produce more information.