Coin Alloys of Tauric Chersonese in the Period of Independence

This paper presents the results of X-ray fluorescence analysis of the composition of alloys of the two largest collections of coins of ancient Chersonese residing in the State Historical and Archaeological Museum Preserve of Tauric Chersonese and the Yevpatoria Regional Museum. In total, about a thousand coins studied, which, together with the 400 coins previously examined from the State Hermitage Museum, constitutes a solid basis for conclusions. The given paper analyses the data obtained for coins of Chersonese in the Period of Independence, that is from the emergence of local coinage in the early fourth century BC to the wars of Diophantos in the late second century BC. For the first time it has been determined that big dichalkoi were minted from a special coin alloy, two-component high-tin bronze, in the period of economic prosperity of Chersonese in the second half of the fourth and third centuries BC. These coins served as the financial basis for important transformations in the near and distant chora: the land division system of vineyards and territorial expansion of Chersonese into the north-western Taurica. Only in the third century BC, in the period of an unprecedented consolidation of land properties and the transformation of the wine production into a commodity industry, the minting of large silver coins of full metal value began probably for big financial deals and payments in international trade. The crisis in the minting of Chersonese in the late second century BC touched silver drachmae, the overwhelming majority of which were minted from a low-grade silver alloy with the copper comprising more than a third of the composition. Thus, full-weight coins turned to conditional money.

From the History of the Studies of the “Cave Town” of Kachi-Kal’on in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

The “cave towns” are located atop of table mountains built of limestone, or in rocky limestone precipices, within a small section of the Inner Range of the Crimean Mountains in the south-western Crimea. Among a very few written sources on the history of mediaeval Crimea there are mostly narratives, so thorough archaeological study of the sites is essential. Only the analysis of the data obtained by archaeology will shed light on the history of the creation, development, and decline of these enigmatic cave structures. This paper addresses the history of the study of the “cave town” of Kachi-Kal’on. This site is located in the Bakhchisarai District (Republic of the Crimea). Although the travelogues from the eighteenth to the early twentieth century regularly mentioned Kachi-Kal’on, the first archaeological studies of the site were carried out only in 1930. The excavations were conducted at a small square on the promontory in front of the fourth grotto of Kachi-Kal’on, where fortifications of the fortress were allegedly located. The excavations were carried out by the Eski-Kermen Expedition of the State Academy of the History of the Material Culture under the supervision of N. I. Repnikov. In the early autumn 1933, the archaeological researches at Kachi-Kal’on continued by the same expedition. Apart from the investigations in the territory of the ancient town where the cultural layer was disturbed, a great work was done to study and describe the whole site. This paper analyses the circumstances of the said researches of the site and examines the results of these works. The origin and functional purpose of the “cave town” is still disputable. The paper is the first to publish the photographs from the collections of the Institute of the History of the Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Early Byzantine Elements of Prestigious Horse Harness with Cloisonné Inlaid Decoration in the Post-Hunnic Period (Eastern Europe, Danube Area, and Eurasian Steppes)

The elements of prestigious horse tack of the Early Byzantine origin, decorated with cloisonné inlay style decor, have long been identified among the steppe nomads of the Post-Hunnic Period (the so-called Shipovo horizon from the second third of the fifth to the second third of the sixth centuries), as well as among the sedentary barbarians in Eastern and Central Europe. These finds include disc-shaped badges or plaques or appliques, rectangular belt-ends, and horse bits with zoomorphic images. Now it is difficult to infer specific mechanisms for the distribution of prestigious early Byzantine artefacts in the Barbaricum in the Post-Hunnic Period. It looks like that apart from the usual military trophies these items could have been included in diplomatic gifts. Written sources testify to specific cases of donation of horse accessories (saddles) to barbarian leaders. Along with weapons, these artefacts could also be obtained as a result of a symbolic investment of the Empire’s allies on behalf of the emperor. The hypothesis of making the artefacts in the cloisonné inlay style directly in the Barbaricum seems less probable, though the presence there of craftsmen including those who knew the technique of the Constantinople jewellery “school” is quite possible. However, it should be remembered that the technique of sawing and processing precious stones was particularly complex and was owned by a very limited number of craftsmen. Therefore, the overwhelming majority of barbarian jewellery pieces from the Hunnic and Post-Hunnic Periods used the secondary-used stones, in contrast to the case of the finds in steppe, like those from Morskoi Chulek, Bylym-Kudinetovo, Ialpug, or Altynkazgan. Rather, the latter were made in the Mediterranean workshops.

A Funeral Graffito from a Church atop of the Plateau of Eski-Kermen (Preliminary Information)

This paper is the first to publish a funeral graffito of Constantine the servant of God from a late mediaeval church atop of the plateau of Eski-Kermen. In addition to the reading and translation of the inscription, there is a detailed palaeographical and linguistic analysis of the graffito. In result, the preliminary chronology of the monument has been determined as the tenth to thirteenth centuries.

Brooches from the Cemetery of Opushki and Their Role in Costume (According to the 2003–2020 Excavation Materials)

This paper presents a review of the brooches from the cemetery of Opushki located in the central area of the Crimean foothills. The cemetery was used from the first century BC to the fourth century AD by peoples of various archaeological cultures. 72 of 318 graves excavated there contained brooches. The total number of complete and fragmented brooches discovered there is 190. The largest group comprises one-piece bow-shaped brooches with returned foot and the brooches with flattened catch-plate from the first to the first half of the third century AD. There is a series of brooches made in the Roman Empire, with the most numerous group of plate brooches. There are a few violin-bow-shaped brooches, highly-profiled brooches of the Northern Black Sea type, two-piece violin-bow-shaped brooches with returned foot, and brooches with curved arched bow (P-shaped): great many pieces of these types occurred at other sites from the Roman Period in the Crimean foothill area. In Opushki, brooches appeared in all types of burial constructions, and mostly in the Late Scythian vaults from the first century BC to the second century AD. They accompanied graves of women, men, and children. In the overwhelming majority of cases, one burial was accompanied with one and rarely two brooches; there is only one burial of a child with three clasps. Most often brooches occurred at the chest, in rare cases on the shoulder, near the cervical vertebrae, pelvic bones, or outside the skeleton. It is noteworthy that a great number of brooches was found in the burials of children of different ages, from 1- to 8-12-year-old. Apparently, brooches as a part of the child’s costume were used throughout the child’s life from the very infancy. Generally, the brooch types from the cemetery of Opushki, their distribution in the assemblages and location on the skeletons correspond to the general pattern typical of barbarian cemeteries in the Crimean foothill area dated to the Roman Period.

Preliminary Results of the Research of Anthropological Material from Tomb I of an Aisleless Quarter Church at Eski-Kermen Plateau

In 2018, the joint expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of the Crimea of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the History and Archaeology of the Crimea Research Centre of the V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University continued the long-term systematic excavations of a residential quarter of the mediaeval town located atop of Eski-Kermen plateau. The regular research uncovered new rooms in the previously excavated mediaeval buildings with adjacent areas of the main and streets and a wall of a previously unknown church with tomb I annexed to it. The researchers of Crimean medieval Christian monuments have paid attention to a great variety of burial traditions connected with constructions of burials and the ways of using them. As a rule, the majority of mediaeval burial constructions at Eski-Kermen plateau were continuously used throughout a long period. The given paper examines the material obtained from tomb I annexed to the wall of an aisleless church. In the tomb under study, there are skeletons of some of the buried persons laying in anatomic order. All the bones of the individuals buried in the tomb occurred within this burial construction. The preservation of bone remains can be evaluated as satisfactory. In the course of work, quantitative and sex-age-related characteristics of the buried persons have been determined; the analysis of palaeopathological conditions has been made; a number of non-metric features has been documented. Epigenetic features more often appeared on the cranium bones; it is possibly connected with the preservation of the bones of postcranial skeletons. Among pathological developments, diseases related with teeth-maxillary apparatus are most common. Diseases of locomotor apparatus have been documented on the bones of vertebral column and big joints of long bones of arms and legs of all sexually mature individuals. Some changes typical of the Forestier disease have been recorded at the backbone of one of the buried male individuals. Pathological changes caused by iron-deficient conditions, inflammatory processes, and changes of osseous tissues connected with physical overexertion of osseous apparatus caused by extreme physical burden have been recorded among those who were buried in tomb 1. Only one traumatic lesion has been documented at the new material.

Gold in a Woman’s Burial Costume of the Late Ancient Bosporan Elite: New Materials from Phanagoreia

This paper publishes a unique woman’s costume with gold ornaments from the Hunnic Period. This find originates from a burial vault in Phanagoreia dated back to the late fourth or early fifth century AD. There are numerous gold foil badges uncovered in situ on a woman’s neck and chest. They were sewn on the collar of a robe and an outer garment. Gold ornaments appeared only on the front side of the cloths to be seen by the funeral ceremony participants. The find of the ornaments in Phanagoreia contributes to the suggestion that there was a universal set of gold ornaments for cloth in the Hunnic Period. It has been inferred that the costume decorated with fine gold ornaments played ceremonial role. It was made especially for funerals of noble and rich women belonging to the Bosporan elite. However, the culture of the barbarians living in the vicinity of the Bosporan Kingdom in the Migration Period possibly developed alternative perception of the costume in question

A Complex of the Early-Eleventh Century Finds from a Cistern in Quarter IX of Chersonese

This paper discusses a complex of ceramic finds excavated from a cistern in quarter IX in the north-eastern area of Chersonese, which supplied water to a public bath at the first stage of its existence. Although the reasons why the cistern was covered with soil remain unclear, later on residential buildings appeared at this site. The finds published here comprised imported transport and table ceramic wares. The complex included brown-clay flat-handle transport pitchers, presumably from the Taman area; Günsenin I amphorae produced on the Marmara Sea coast to the south-west of Constantinople; Glazed White Ware II tableware (according to J. Hayes’ classification) and painted white-clay Polychrome Ware also produced in the vicinity of the Byzantine capital. A vessel with polished surface is probably connected with the manufacture of the Khazar Khanate circle. The questions of the chronology of specific pottery types nave been analysed with account to their modern dating. According to the combination of dates, the complex of finds from the cistern in question is attributable to the beginning of the eleventh century. An important role for the dating of the complex is played by the chronology of the white-clay polychrome ware clarified by G. Sanders and the absence of Günsenin II amphorae dating from the mid-eleventh to the early twelfth centuries. The ceramic ware from the infill of the cistern comprises only imported pieces and reflects the two directions of Cherson’s trade in the said period: first, Constantinople and its environs and second, the Azov Sea and Northern Caucasus area.

Christian Mangup: The Modern Source Base and the Main Stages of Its History

Throughout the entire period of the Middle Ages, the settlement of Mangup was one of the most important ideological centres for the spread of Christianity in the south-western Crimea. From the creation of the independent Gothic bishopric on, it housed the residence and the cathedral church of the hierarchs of Crimean Gothia. This is evidenced by numerous churches and monasteries discovered by many-year-long excavations of the site (27 in total). This paper is the first in the scholarship attempt of systematization of all available information from the sources related to the Christian history of the castle of Mangup, written, epigraphic, archaeological, and so on. Particular attention has been paid to the results of modern excavations of the church archaeology monuments at the settlement in question, carried out systematically in 2012–2021. They formed the basis for the reconstruction of the main stages of church building and the most important periods in the history of the local Christian community. Generally, it covers a wide period from the mid-sixth century, when a big basilica featuring the nave and two aisles, the future cathedral of the Gothic bishopric (metropolia), was built at Mangup along with the large Byzantine castle, and finished in the early seventeenth century. The construction and functioning of most part of known churches and monasteries of the castle of Mangup dates to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when this site finally developed into a large mediaeval city, the capital of the principality of Theodoro in the south-western Crimea.

On the New Trends in Translation of Abd al-Zahir’s Texts

The beginning of diplomatic relations between the Golden Horde and Mamluk Egypt and the conversion to Islam by Khan Berke (1257–1266) are reflected in written sources. The most important of these is the Garden of Flowers in the Biography of al-Malik al-Zahir, compiled by Muhyi d-Din Abu-l-Fadl ’Abdallah ibn ‘Abd az-Zahir, the secretary of the Sultan al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari (1260–1277). This work became the basis for later books of those who represented Arabic-speaking historical tradition. The excerpts from these works uncovering the history of the Golden Horde were published in 1884 by V. G. Tizengausen. It should be noted that the translation of the sources made by V. G. Tizengausen at a high level is not a word-by-word translation. The literary translation leaves room for various historical interpretations of the texts. In 2020, V. A. Sidorenko published an attempt of interpretation of the kind. The aim of the present research is grammatical, historical, and religious analysis of the conjectures given by V. A. Sidorenko and the conclusions drawn against this background. The results of the research undertaken support the conclusion that the most likely date of conversion to Islam by Khan Berke reflected in the written sources is 1263. Moreover, the author criticises the conjectures of Ibn Abd al-Zahir’s text suggested by V. A. Sidorenko. The greatest objection is the translation of the content of the first letter of the Egyptian Sultan to Khan Berke. The conclusion is made that, at the moment when the letter to Berke was written, al-Malik al-Zahir Baybars had no doubts about the religion of the Khan. This conclusion suggests doubts concerning the chronological sequence of diplomatic missions and exchange of letters between Egypt and the Golden Horde suggested by V. A. Sidorenko. One should search for the reason for the contradictions between the content of the Sultan’s message to the Khan of the Golden Horde and the content of the letters delivered to Egypt by Berke’s ambassadors among the features of religious policy of Mongolian rulers. Taking the Khan’s sympathy for Islam into account, the reason behind the letter to Berke probably was the misinterpretation of the information concerning his religion received in Egypt.