Pages: 259-307

The article is a summary of the results of the excavations of a Greek and Scythian hillfort of Chaika in Yevpatoria. The primary focus is on the architectural remains. In the second half of the 2nd century BC, this late Scythian settlement arises on the place of a late Greek town. The settlement was laid out according to the classical habitation tradition. Constructed on the ruins of a Greek villa, the Citadel became the centre of the settlement, with quarters of isolated households around it. Structural engineering is typical for Greek and barbarian monuments of the late Hellenistic time. The buildings were constructed of unworked stones and mortar; the masonries are irregular with fragments of herringbone setting. An analysis of amphorae suggests that the life of the settlement should be dated from the second half of the 2nd century BC to the first half of the 1st century AD. Stratification and bedding of constructions demonstrate three stages in the life of the settlement. The first stage is dated from the third quarter of the 2nd century to the early 1st century BC, the second stage is dated by the first half of the 1st century BC, the third stage is dated from the second half of the 1st century BC to the first quarter of the 1st century AD.

Keywords: North-Western Crimea, Late Hellenism, Late Scythian culture, Chaika hillfort, architecture, citadel

Information about author:

Elena Popova (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Lomonosov Moscow State University. Lomonosovsky Ave., 27, building 4, Moscow, 119992, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]