CRIMEAN ATLANTIS
The Black Sea continues to keep a lot of secrets and mysteries. However, some of them are revealed literally before our eyes. This is exactly what happened with Acre - the real “Crimean Atlantis”. The ancient city, one and a half thousand years ago absorbed by the waters of the Black Sea, was discovered quite recently and today is unique archaeological site and a tourist attraction on the Eastern coast of Crimea.
The ancient Greek polis of Acre flourished for almost eight centuries, from the end of the 6th century BC. until the beginning of the 4th century AD. The period for history is considerable. And although the port town itself was small, during its life, culture developed over hundreds of generations, and there was active trade with other colonies and states. Archaeologists read all these details of the life of the ancient city from artifacts found in the cultural layer. Today there is a permanent international research expedition working here, and yet, thirty years ago, scientists did not know the exact location of Acre and could not imagine that not ancient maps or documents, but an accidental discovery of a Soviet schoolboy, would help find it.
In the “Periplus of Pontus Euxine,” that is, in the map of the Black Sea, compiled more than two thousand years ago, many cities are named on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus: Panticapaeum, Myrmekium, Nymphaeum, Kitaeus and Acre. Strabo, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century AD, argued that the latter is located just at the entrance to the Kerch Strait opposite Korocondama, a Bosporan city on the Taman Peninsula. Acre was mentioned by both Claudius Ptolemy, the great scientist who laid the foundations of cartography, and Pliny the Elder. By the beginning of the 20th century, almost all ancient cities were marked on modern maps, but Acre could not be found. The very name of the city initially confused researchers, since the main and most common meaning of the word suggested that the settlement should have been located on a hill, because “Acre” is translated from Greek as hill. The second meaning of the word is “fortification,” which also did little to help scientists in their search for the lost ancient city. By the way, over the past 2000 years, the water level in the Black Sea has risen by four meters. The sea slowly came to land, and the inhabitants of Acre actually began to build their houses on the “ mainland» – further from the coast, at higher elevations.
For almost two hundred years, Acre could not be found. It was “placed” on almost all high capes at the entrance to the Kerch Strait. But these places did not correspond to the descriptions of the distances between the Bosporan cities, which the Greek peripluses preserved for us. The ancient city was found quite by accident by a simple schoolboy from Kerch. Lesha Kulikov, on the shore of a sandy embankment separating the salty Yanyshskoye Lake from the Kerch Strait, found many coins of the Bosporus Kingdom of various dates. This became the key to solving the mystery of Acre's location. In 1982, professional excavations were carried out, which revealed to humanity a city hidden under water for many hundreds of years. Underwater archaeologists at a depth of four and a half meters discovered an ancient settlement in the form of a trapezoid with an area of at least 4 hectares. To the east of the city, at a depth of seven meters, there was a harbor. Defensive walls, two towers and a well with seven branded amphorae of Herakpeia Pontica, fragments of black-glazed pottery, fragments of a lead anchor rod, and lathe-processed wooden parts of a small table were found.
Things often happen in life that decide your fate. The discovery of Kerch schoolboy Alexei Kulikov not only revealed the ancient flooded city to the world, but also determined the future life of the young man. He graduated from university and became an archaeologist. And in the mid-1990s, a young scientist explored a small land part of Acre. Excavations on the shore were combined with underwater exploration of the flooded areas of the city. On land, buildings dating back to Roman times were studied - three large households. But for the next fifteen years, the city again found itself unfairly forgotten, telling its stories only to dolphins. Since 2011, research has resumed, with both professional scientists and amateur divers doing it. And literally in three years more was explored in Acre than in the previous thirty years. Underwater research in the Black Sea is a complex matter, especially in the strait, the water is often cloudy and visibility is poor. Sometimes you have to work almost by touch. The expedition works at the site from May to early July. While the water had not yet warmed up and the overgrown algae had not covered the seabed with a terry green carpet.
According to scientists, Akra is the only such well-preserved settlement in the entire Black Sea region. And some other ancient coastal cities were flooded, for example, most of Olbia (modern Nikolaev region). But a lot there has been crushed by storms. But Acre was lucky - its location and the geological processes of land subsidence and sea level rise occurred in such a way that they were able to protect the city from destruction. From the materials collected by scientists over the years of research, a certain picture can be drawn. Acre was a completely typical ancient Greek polis with culture and way of life, as in all others ancient settlements Black Sea region. The main occupation of its inhabitants was agriculture. Scientists found a wooden comb in good condition at the bottom. On one side there are large teeth, on the other there are smaller ones. The first were intended for combing hair, and the second - for getting rid of annoying insects - lice, since hygiene in those days was at a primitive level. One of the most amazing finds of Acre can be called defensive tower, which has no analogues in other ancient monuments. The tower was decorated with rusticated blocks not only outside, but even from the inside. What is most impressive is that this massive structure, about fifty square meters in area, stood on a wooden platform made of huge oak beams. And what’s surprising is that the wood was preserved so well underwater that if these beams were pulled ashore, they could still be used in construction today.
While clearing the bottom, archaeologists find a very large number of objects: coins from various alloys, arrowheads, lead products, wooden plates, kitchen utensils and parts of amphorae. At the bottom, researchers often came across wooden pyxid boxes and other interesting products of ancient craftsmen. What on earth usually decays into dust during this period, here in underwater city, is almost in its original form. The preservation of the structures is also striking: defensive walls up to two meters high, elements of neighborhood development, houses and pavements. It is clear that archaeologists have no problems with artifacts. But they exist in another way. Active urbanization has begun in the Kerch Strait - new large ports are being built that can transform the entire hydrological system of the adjacent water area. The currents will change, and Acre, so carefully preserved by the sea for almost two and a half millennia, may simply be washed away. That is why it is necessary to explore it as soon as possible in order to tell the world the reliable story of the “Crimean Atlantis”.
Crimea with its ancient settlements is a kind of small Hellas. A little worn out, but still living history, imprinted in every stone of its destroyed walls. And it’s not at all necessary to invent a time machine and fly it to Ancient Greece to feel like a contemporary of Pythagoras or Aristotle. It is enough just to go on an excavation, and you are no longer in the 21st century, but, having passed through an unimaginable thickness of time, somewhere there, in the 5th-4th centuries BC, at the very source of the foundation of ancient Acre. It is not difficult to imagine how Greek aristocrats and ordinary townspeople once walked along these now flooded streets. And now, two and a half thousand years later, curious and brave travelers with a rich imagination will have the opportunity to dive under the water and see ancient Acre with their own eyes. “Crimean Atlantis” is a real miracle, which is hard to believe, but its reality refutes all the absurd talk of skeptics that miracles do not happen. The underwater ancient city is already ready to tell its stories not only to onlooker fish or dolphins, but also to Crimean tourists.
Based on the materials of the article by O. Burachenok, V. Vakhoneev “Acre - an ancient city at the bottom of the Black Sea », magazine« Treasure Peninsula » ( №1, 2014).
Ancient greek city Acre, which is located on the territory of modern Crimea, went under water about a thousand years ago - at the end of the 10th century AD. Local journalists nicknamed it the Crimean Atlantis, because only a few meters of the ancient settlement overlook the land. The city could not be found for more than a hundred years. The fact is that from ancient Greek the word “acre” is translated as “hill” (and here it’s hard not to remember the Acropolis - “ upper city"). In addition, ancient authors (Pliny, Strobo, Ariana, Pseudo-Arian) mention Acre as a very small settlement, which led to the formation of two stereotypes among historiographers. Firstly, Acre is a small city, and secondly, it is located on a hill. But in reality, everything turned out to be exactly the opposite. Acre, where about a thousand people lived (at that time - the population of a large city), was an important port city in the south of the Bosporan state, which stood at the foot of Cape Takil - in fact, in the lowland. But all this became clear much later - only about thirty years ago - thanks to chance. Read: In 1982, Crimean schoolboy Alyosha Kulikov found ancient coins on the coast, which, as it turned out, were used local residents 2.5 thousand years ago. Later, having already received an archaeological education, Alexey Vladislavovich Kulikov began researching the ancient city and discovered three households, which were about two thousand years old. In the 1990s, excavations were stopped, but they were resumed quite recently, in 2010, on the initiative of Hermitage staff. For the last six years, archaeologists have been exploring the ancient monument of ancient architecture - the city of Acre, most of which is under water. This year, the excavation spaces were “drained” for the first time. “For the sixth year in a row, my expedition and I have been systematically exploring the ancient Greek site of Acre. But this year, for the first time, we carried out not only underwater work, but also work on land. Or rather, in the area under the coast: they made a large excavation with an area of one hundred square meters and studied the exits to the remains of the city preserved under the coastline. We do not see such preservation of architectural remains that we see here anywhere else in the Northern Black Sea region,” comments Viktor Vakhoneev, deputy director of the Black Sea Center for Underwater Research. Every year during the expedition, the scientists’ collection is replenished with amazing artifacts. One of the most important finds is a defensive wall with towers 150 meters long. Interestingly, it is visible even on satellite images. Read: “Acre was founded on a trapezoidal sub-triangular cape, which extended into the waters of the Kerch Strait for about 250 meters. The cape itself was very low. The Greeks settled here as a result of the colonization of the Bosporus in the early 5th century BC. And in the middle of the 4th century BC they crossed the cape with a defensive wall. This protected the city from barbarian raids,” says Viktor Vakhoneev. - We examined the defensive tower for several seasons, and what was our surprise when the base of the tower turned out to be made of huge oak beams in the shape of a cage! There are no known analogues in terrestrial archaeology. Perhaps this building was needed to combat seismicity or groundwater. One way or another, we examined wooden structures that are two and a half thousand years old!” And in 2013, an ancient wooden comb about two thousand years old was discovered in Acre. It is impossible to find such an object within the framework of land-based archaeological excavations: organic matter simply disintegrates over such a long period of time. As for the expedition of the 2016 season, archaeologists managed to collect many artifacts. Alexander Konevich, the author of the film “Acres,” spoke about one of the most significant: Archaeologists found a real home in the remains of an ancient Greek dwelling. Such an artifact is a real success. And one more proof that Acra really was big city, where the inhabitants were permanently located, and not a temporary fortress with massive fortification structures.” In addition, a huge amount of ceramic remains from different times were discovered near the fireplace. Watch about these and other results of the expedition to the city, which is about 2.5 thousand years old, on the “Science” TV channel in November.
Acre - “Crimean Atlantis”
The Black Sea still keeps many secrets; this sea is unique in its nature, but perhaps people do not always appreciate it properly. Many do not even suspect what secrets are hidden under the water of the Black Sea. One of these secrets, which has recently begun to lift its veil, is the ancient city of Acre, today it is called the “Crimean Atlantis”.
Ancient settlement of the 5th century. BC e. - IV century n. e., located on the coastal base of the cape, part of the settlement was flooded by the sea. Acre belongs to the “small” cities of the Bosporan state.
“Behind Nymphaeum, even further south, on Cape Takil, there was a very small village of Acre. It attracted attention in ancient times because from it the coast turned to the west, and thus Acre was the extreme southern point strait from the Crimea. On the contrary, that is, on the Taman Peninsula, the village of Korokondama, located on the present Cape Tuzla, was considered the southernmost point of the strait. According to Strabo, when the strait froze, the ice reached these two points in the south - Acre and Corocondama. There are currently almost no traces of the village of Acre. On a high cape, where now an abandoned old lighthouse, only here and there are traces of a cultural layer with fragments of ancient ceramics visible. In the same area, ancient graves are discovered, which confirm the existence of an ancient settlement in this place.”
Acre is a mystery that has not yet been solved. It all started at the end of the 18th century when Crimea was annexed to the territory of the Russian Empire. This event marked the beginning of active scientific exploration of these lands. Scientists began to make their journeys to new unexplored lands. At the same time, they tried to find the sites of Greek cities known from ancient written sources.
The “Periplus of Pontus Euxine” names many cities on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Kerch Strait): Panticapaeum, Myrmekium, Nymphaeum, Kitey and the village of Acre. Strabo, Greek geographer of the 2nd century. n. e., indicated that Acre was located opposite Korocondama at the entrance to the strait. And Pliny the Elder, a Roman scientist, classifies Acre as a Bosporan city. Acre was also mentioned by Claudius Ptolemy, Stephen of Byzantium and Aelius Gordian.
Thanks to the research boom, by the beginning of the 20th century, modern maps almost all ancient cities, but with Acre nothing was clear at all - its ancient ruins could not be found. Initially, researchers were confused by the etymology of the city's name, because the main and most common meaning of this name suggested that Acre should be located on an elevated place. Literally, the word “Acre” is translated as a hill or fortification. By the way, this is where the name “acropolis”, that is, the upper city, comes from.
The first person to locate Acre on Cape Takil in the southeastern part of the Kerch Peninsula was academician Pallas. He suggested this at the end of the 18th century. Paul Dubrux, one of the first scientists in Russian archeology, at the beginning of the 19th century placed Acre just south of Takil, on a settlement he discovered. Until 1918, almost all researchers believed that Acre was located here, but a sensational discovery was unexpectedly made. Local fishermen accidentally found a cult table with an inscription that mentioned the Chinese community. It became immediately clear to scientists that another Bosporan city was located here - Kitey.
For the next sixty years, Acre was located on Taquila itself. In 1975, excavations were carried out and an ancient Greek sanctuary was found, and now it seemed that the city had finally been found. But many scientists still had serious doubts about the correct localization of Acre. The location of two neighboring Greek cities, between which Acre was located - Nymphaeum and Kitaeus - had already been established precisely. Greek periplus (ancient sailing directions) showed the distances between cities, and the distance from Kitea to Cape Takil was half that of Acre.
And if it weren’t for the winter storms in 1981, nothing would have become clearer. But suddenly one lucky Kerch schoolboy began to find ancient coins on the shore of a sandy embankment separating the salty Yanyshskoye Lake from the Kerch Strait south of the village of Naberezhnoe in the Leninsky district of Crimea. The student collected a fairly large collection of antique coins, from different periods. This find confirmed that scientists are not dealing with a washed-out treasure, but with a flooded settlement. The coins were immediately transferred to the Kerch Museum and already in the summer of 1982 the first excavations were carried out on the embankment and on the hill south of the lake. It was then that large cultural strata of the ancient era were discovered. Finally, archaeologists encountered not an ordinary settlement, but a small urban center. It was a real sensation - an ancient city was discovered under water. Acre was finally found.
Underwater expeditions, which began shortly after the first explorations, established that the ancient city, which lay at a depth of up to 4.5 m, had a rectangular shape with an area of at least 4 hectares. To the east of it, more seaward and to a depth of 7.5 m, there was a harbor. Underwater research yielded amazing results - defensive walls, two towers and a well were discovered. One of the walls was well preserved for as much as 110 m. A tower measuring 7x7 m was adjacent to the wall on the floor side. Another defensive wall was examined 150 microns to the north. At 170 m of the shore at a depth of 3 m there was a well lined with stones. And it contained seven branded amphorae of Heraclea from the Pontic IV century. BC e., fragments of black-gloss pottery, a fragment of a lead anchor rod, wooden parts processed on a lathe.
An interesting fact is that in 1994–1997. archaeological research in Acre was continued by the same schoolboy who discovered a collection of coins many years ago. Excavations on the shore were combined with underwater exploration of the flooded part of the city. On land, buildings from Roman times were found - three large households. But due to lack of funding, excavations were suspended.
And for the next 15 years, the city of Acre again found itself unjustly forgotten.
And only in 2011, underwater archaeologists from the Kyiv Department of Underwater Heritage and the St. Petersburg Hermitage again paid attention to unique monument archeology.
The modern period of development of underwater archaeological research in the Northern Black Sea region was marked by the resumption of large-scale work.
For the first time in Acre, not just visual reconnaissance was carried out, but truly underwater excavations with the latest professional equipment. Over two years of research, another section of the city’s defensive wall and urban development of the 4th century was found. BC e. The surviving height of the fortifications reached 1.6 m.
The opening of a house from the first half of the 4th century was a sensation. BC e. A broken Heraclean amphora was found on the floor. The masonry walls were preserved in 3 rows, with a total height of up to 0.6 m. And such good preservation of architectural remains under water is very unique. For example, in many other places on the Black Sea, such good preservation is not observed - all layers are washed away, the masonry is destroyed. But not in Acre.
It became clear that the total area of the monument occupied a large area from 4 to 6 hectares, while it was located at the ancient coastal level and is now almost completely flooded by the sea. Some of the layers of ancient times have been preserved on the modern coast. Cultural layers dating back to the 4th century were found under water. BC e., and layers - III–II centuries. BC e.
So, it turns out that Acre existed for almost 1000 years, from the end of the 6th century. BC e. until the beginning of the 4th century. n. e. The gradual flooding of the city began with the beginning of the new era, due to changes in the level of the World Ocean and due to local geological processes of land subsidence. From antiquity to the present day, sea level has risen by 4 m. The research carried out, of course, is very small to summarize any results in the study of Acre. But a start has been made and the city under water has already begun to reveal its secrets.
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Not far from Kerch, at the foot of Cape Takil, in the very southern point Kerch Strait, a group of underwater archaeologists of an international expedition is exploring the ancient city of Acre, which several thousand years ago was swallowed up by the waters of the Kerch Strait.
The ancient city of Acre is a small ancient Greek port city in Crimea, which existed as part of the city from the end of the 6th century BC. e. to the 4th century AD e. located Acres on 3.5 hectares in the eastern part Crimean peninsula and was surrounded by a six-meter wall.
This protection saved the city from enemy raids and storms. Due to geological changes coastline The Black Sea and the formation of the Kerch Strait, part of the ancient settlement and a 30-meter section of the defensive wall of the ancient city of Acre were under the water advancing on the city.
The ancient name of the city of Acre was preserved in the name of the land measure - Acre(English) acre; fr. acre, lat. ager and acra, celt. acre- field ) - a land measure used in a number of countries with the English system of measures. 1 acre equal to 0.4 hectares; 1 acre = 1/640 sq. miles. 1 acre. = 4046.86 m² ≈ 0.004 km²
In the depths of the sea, researchers have a view of the defensive walls of the ancient city of Acre. All archaeological layers of the ancient city were preserved under water in an untouched, undisturbed state.
Over the past two years, a large number of architectural structures have been found in excellent preservation. The head of the archaeological expedition, Viktor Vakhoneev, considers the ancient city of Acre to be a real treasure trove for underwater archaeologists, who call the ancient Greek city of Acre “Crimean Atlantis.”
Underwater archaeologists explore residential areas of the ancient city. The layout of the streets of ancient Acre and ancient residential buildings, houses in which people once lived, are well preserved. Furniture, utensils, a woman's comb were found; such items are not preserved on land at all, but in the sea they survived and were found in their original form. In the study area, defensive walls of the city were discovered; 3-4 rows of stone masonry more than 1 m 60 cm high were preserved under water. Archaeologists mapped most masonry.
Leading researcher of the State Hermitage Sergei Soloviev, participating in the underwater expedition, notes that a large number of fragments of antique ceramic dishes, clay amphorae for transporting wine, oil, fish, grain and other products were found on the territory of the city of Acre.
Residents of the city of Acre were engaged in trade, fishing and shipping. Acre researchers determined that it was not very large market town Bosporan Kingdom, covering an area of 4 hectares. The presence of defensive walls around the city suggests that Acre was ready for defense and knew how to protect itself from the attacks of nomads.
The Black Sea Center for Underwater Research is now preparing routes for underwater excursions around ancient city Acres for tourists, lovers of underwater adventures, divers. Creation of the underwater archaeological park “Crimean Atlantis” in ancient Acre
occurs with the support of the public and the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
The head of the department of underwater archeology of the Black Sea Center for Underwater Research, Viktor Vakhoneev, is confident that underwater excursions in ancient Greek city Acres will be very popular among tourists. This object is most suitable for underwater excursions, as it is located at shallow sea depths, no more than 4 meters. An archaeological expedition is currently working in underwater Acre off the coast of Kerch.
In parallel with the work of archaeologists, tourist divers are offered an excursion route called "Participant in an underwater archaeological excursion." Tourists who love underwater adventures are offered an unforgettable underwater walk through ancient Acre and watch the work of underwater archaeologists.
There are still a lot of fish and crabs in these places. Those who know how to catch crayfish can easily cope with catching sea crabs. For lovers of spearfishing, an amazing undersea world Black Sea.
Viktor Vakhoneev believes that it will be interesting for tourists to dive themselves and, together with archaeologists, participate in research work under water.
The head of the department of underwater archeology of the Black Sea Center for Underwater Research says that the ancient Acre was registered this year as historical monument and is protected by the state. The Ministry of Resorts and Tourism of Crimea is interested in creating the first underwater archaeological park in Ukraine on the basis of the archaeological expedition.
Acre is a small ancient Greek port city (according to ancient Greek authors - a small village) in Crimea, which existed from the end of the 6th century BC. e. to the 4th century AD e. It was located at the southernmost point of the Kerch Strait, at the foot of Cape Takil (according to Strabo, an ice-free port of the Bosporan kingdom). Due to the lowering of the bank, part of the settlement - layers of the 4th century BC. e., including a 30-meter section of the defensive wall, is under water. Acre is called the “Crimean Atlantis”.
Research
In addition to Strabo, Acre was mentioned by Ptolemy, Stephen of Byzantium, in the periplus of Pseudo-Arrian and Aelius Herodian. The first survey in 1976 was carried out by researchers of the Kitey settlement E.A. Molev and N.V. Moleva. Anthropomorphic steles and an amphora brand were found on the seaside terrace. In the early 1980s. on a sand spit between Lake Yanysh and the sea A.V. Kulikov found more than a hundred antique coins and other antique objects near the scientific base of AzCherNIRO. These findings prompted subsequent research. In the summer of 1982 V.N. Kholodkov (Kerch Museum) conducted the first excavations, both on the embankment and on the hill south of the lake, during which cultural strata of the ancient era without clearly defined stratigraphy were discovered. A.N. Shamrai discovered the remains of an ancient wall under water and a well. In 1983-1985. K.K. Shilik (LOIA AS USSR) began underwater research in this area and established that the ancient city lies at a depth of 4 m, and to the east of it, seaward and to a depth of 7 m, there was a harbor. During underwater exploration, defensive walls, two towers and a well were discovered, in the filling of which seven amphorae of Heraclea of Pontic IV century were found. BC e., fragments of black-gloss pottery, a fragment of a lead anchor rod, wooden parts made on a lathe.
Geography
The city occupied the northeastern tip of the cape, formed by the mouth of an ancient nameless river and the Cimmerian Bosporus (Kerch Strait). Its territory probably had the shape of a trapezoid with an area of about 3.5 hectares, now almost completely hidden by the waters of the Black Sea, with the exception of a small western area on a sandy bridge that turned the mouth of the river into the modern Lake Yanysh off the coast of the Kerch Strait. Due to the transgression of the Black Sea, which began around the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e., the ancient city found itself at a depth of up to 4 m. The peculiarities of the wave regime in this part of the coast of the Kerch Peninsula led to the fact that the cultural layers of the ancient city were basically not washed away and its buildings were not completely destroyed, but were only partially covered with sea sand.
