New Data on the Landscape of the Northern Part of the Byzantine City on the Eski-Kermen Plateau

Abstract

Introduction. At the end of the 6th century in the South-Western Crimea, on the Eski-Kermen plateau, Byzantine engineers built a fortress to protect the local Goto-Alan population as well as to protect the approaches to Cherson, the main outpost of the empire on the peninsula. Methods. In 2022, during archaeological work in the northern part of the Eski-Kermen plateau, which was considered by researchers to be an undeveloped territory, a Christian church was opened, which made it possible to reconstruct the urban landscape of this part of the city in a new way. Analysis. The southeastern part of the church with a semicircular apse, sections of the southern wall, and the naos were excavated. In the center of the apse in situ, there is an altar made in the form of a table on a faceted pillar. Crosses are carved on the western and eastern sides of the pillar, and depressions are made for two relics. The base of the altar was cut into a rock monolith during the preparation of the site for the construction of the church, when the surface of the rock was leveled and cramped. The walls of the church were already being built around the base made for the altar. Results. Thus, a Christian church functioned in the northern part of the city on the Eski-Kermen plateau from the early medieval period until the death of the city at the end of the 13th century. It was the second-largest building in the city after the main basilica. The church was built for the residents of the neighborhoods located nearby, along the eastern edge of the plateau. Throughout its existence, the church was renovated, as evidenced by a small reconstruction in the apse and an opening for an additional relic on the western side of the altar. In the 10th century, after the city necropolis on the southeastern slope of the plateau ceased to exist, and chapels for burials began to be built in the quarters on the plateau, a necropolis appeared next to the “Northern” church where residents of the northern quarters buried their dead.

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