Abstract
The paper is devoted to the development of the territory of the Adzhiel natural boundary in the Eastern Crimea in the 18th–20th centuries, according to old and modern maps and comparing the results of maps studying with archaeological surveys which have been conducted in recent years. The Adzhiel natural boundary is the territory adjacent to the Adzhiel gully and its sleeves. It is located 30 km west of Kerch and covers an area of about 100 sq. km, near the eastern part of the Kazantip Bay of the Azov Sea. The natural boundary is an area that played an important role in the antiquity. The Adzhiel gully, which is in the direction of the North-West- South-East is diffi cult to pass, fences off a signifi cant part of the Kerch Peninsula, and was one of the natural defensive lines of the Bosporan Kingdom from the west.
The research of maps of the 18th–20th centuries (for the earlier period, any detailed maps of this territory are unknown to the authors) showed that after the annexation of the Crimea by the Russian Empire at the end of the 18th century there were one or four signifi cant settlements at the end of the 18th century and up to 13 at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries in this area.
At the same time, in the 20th–21st centuries, during the archaeological work, more than two dozen sites, mainly ancient, to a lesser extent medieval, were found on the territory of the Adzhiel gully. In addition, a signifi cant number of spots of pottery fragments, where ancient settlements may also be located, have been revealed. All this suggests that the development of the territory in ancient times was higher, and the population was, probably, larger than in the late Middle Ages and the present.
Keywords
Archaeology, Eastern Crimea, Adzhiel natural boundary, old maps, antiquity, Middle Ages.
Kruglikova, I.T. 1975: Sel’skoe khozyaistvo Bospora [Agriculture of the Bosporus]. Moscow.
Maslennikov, A.A. 2003: Drevnie zemlyanye pogranichno-oboronitel’nye sooruzheniya Vostochnogo Kryma [Ancient earthen border-defense constructions of the Eastern Crimea]. Tula.
Matskevoy, L.G. 1977: Mezolit i neolit Vostochnogo Kryma [Mesolithic and Neolith of the Eastern Crimea]. Kiev.
Smekalov, S.L. 2003: Pechatnye kartografi cheskie materialy po Krymu XVIII–XIX vv. v fondakh RNB i BAN i ikh primenenie v arkheologicheskikh issledovaniyakh. Kommentariy k izdaniyu kart na CD. [Printed cartographic materials on Crimea of the 18th –20th centuries. in the funds of the Russian National Library and Academy of Sciences Library and their use in archaeological research. Commentary to the publication of maps on CD]. Problemy istorii, fi losofi i, kul’tury [Journal of Historical, Philological and Cultural Studies] XIII, 343–357.
Smekalov, S.L. 2011: Arkheologicheskaya karta Kryma [Archaeological Map of Crimea], http:// www.archmap.ru
Veselov, V.V. 2005: Svodnaya vedomost’ rezul’tatov arkheologicheskih razvedok na Kerchenskom i Tamanskom poluostrovakh v 1949–1964 gg. [Consolidated statement of the results of archaeological surveys on the Kerch and Taman peninsulas in 1949–1964]. Drevnosti Bospora [Antiquities of the Bosporus] Suppl. II. Moscow.
Zubarev, V.G. 2000: Antichnoe poselenie u sela Belinskoe (predvaritel’nye itogi raskopok v 1996–1999 godakh) [Antique settlement near the village of Belinskoe (preliminary results of the excavations in 1996–1999)]. Drevnosti Bospora [Antiquities of the Bosporus] 3, 63– 77.
Zubarev, V.G., Lantsov, S.B. 2006: Nekropol’ gorodishcha «Belinskoe» (predvaritel’nye rezul’taty pervykh raskopok) [Belinskoe settlement necropolis (preliminary results of the first excavations)]. Drevnosti Bospora [Antiquities of the Bosporus] 10, 316–339.
Zubarev, V.G., Smekalov, S.L. 2014: Kul’turno-istoricheskiy landshaft gorodishcha «Belinskoe» [Cultural and historical landscape of the Belinskoe settlement]. Drevnosti Bospora [Antiquities of the Bosporus] 18, 209–225.
Zubarev, V.G., Smekalov, S.L., Yartsev, S.V 2016: Landshaftnaya geografi ya arkheologicheskikh pamyatnikov tsentral’noy chasti urochishcha Adzhiel’ [Landscape geography of archaeological monuments of the central part of the Ajiel tract]. Bosporskiye issledovaniya [Bosporus Studies] XXIII, 110–136.