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Abstract

The Bosporan city of Tyritake dates back to the second third of the 6th century BC to the first third of the 7th century AD. In the Early Middle Ages, the settlement and burial ground of the Saltovo-Mayaki culture was located on its territory. Systematic archaeological excavations have been carried out there since 1932. In recent years, research has been conducted in the upper city near the northern and western fortifi cations. In 2016–2017, a house was unearthed at the western fortress wall (SC-VII), dated back from the last quarter of the 6th to the fi rst third of the 7th century BC. At present, it has not been fully investigated yet. Two rooms and a part of the yard with several household pits have been unearthed. The numerous pieces of both tubular bones and horns, as well as tools and ready-made bone items were uncovered in one of the premises of this house, Judging by the fi nds in this room, there was a bone-cutting workshop, in which a master of suffi ciently high qualifi cation used a lathe for making bone items. This is the fi rst carving workshop discovered in the city, moreover, dated back to such early time.

Keywords

Cimmerian Bosporus, Tyritake, buildings of the Late Archaic period, bonecarving workshop

V.I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, Simferopol, Russia

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