Large-scale construction has opened up unexpected opportunities for Crimea
Active construction in Crimea has made the peninsula Russia's leader in the number of archaeological excavations. At the same time, archaeologists forced the builders to change the original plans.
Nikolai Makarov, Director of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, announced this at a press conference in Moscow, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“Crimea leads in terms of the volume of excavations and the number of open sheets that are issued for work. Archeology must respond to new challenges in our economy. Crimea has become a large construction site. It would be wrong not to use the opportunities that large construction projects have opened up. Crimean finds are very important. Now it is important to comprehend all this and prepare it for publication and museums. It is important not to abandon these monuments, because they are interesting to tourists,” Makarov said.
Among the most important finds, he named an ancient aristocratic estate of the 5th-3rd centuries BC in the vicinity of Kerch.
“Unusually complex in its architecture, in the quality of the buildings, about 40 rooms, two courtyards. Altars, rainwater drains, very high quality stone carving. Science knows many ancient estates on the territory of the Kerch Peninsula, but monuments of this level were unknown,” Makarov said.
The estate was discovered thanks to security excavations of the access roads to the Crimean Bridge.
“Archaeologists were faced with the question: what to do. They must hand over completed plots to builders. But they still offered to keep them. Our expert opinion was heard. The railroad access roads have changed routes. The masonry will be preserved. Manitra is proposed to be museumified and made part of the Kerch museum and research cluster, the idea of creating which was put forward by the Russian Academy of Sciences. This is a success in preserving heritage,” said the archaeologist.
Another object for which the original layout of the Tavrida highway was changed is a 17th-century bridge.
“There is an idea to museumify it and make it the object of a museum display,” Makarov said.
In addition, a Scythian burial ground with 400 burials was found in the area of the village of Frontovoye.
“4000 items of remarkable quality are now being transferred to the Chersonesos Museum-Reserve. A huge amount of Syrian-made glass and jewelry made in ancient workshops. This is the only Late Scythian burial ground that was explored in one season. We now have a complete understanding of this barbarian community, which lived 25 km north of Chersonesus, and it is possible to create a virtual model of it,” the scientist added.
There were also relatively new finds on the route.
“For the Institute of Archeology, it was very important to study the Russian camp during the Crimean War on the route between Simferopol and Sevastopol. This is a camp that covered the route to the interior of Crimea from Sevastopol. New reserve units reached Sevastopol through it,” Makarov said.
There were so many archaeological finds in Crimea that the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences will petition the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation to build special storage facilities.
As PolitNavigator reported, an unknown Scythian settlement was discovered in Crimea.
Read also: French archaeologists are preparing an expedition to Russian Crimea.
Large - scale construction has opened up unexpected opportunities for Crimea.