ИСТИНА

A stone mound of 190-200 meters in length and up to 60 meters wide, which is, most likely, remains of a pier or a jetty, was found during a hydromagnetic survey in the water area of Phanagoria, an Ancient Greek city located in the Taman Bay of the Black Sea. Phanagoria did not possess a natural harbor, but still wanted to become a maritime trade center, so the construction of a big port seems to be reasonable. But was this port built all at once or step by step, in different stages? When was it built and what from? How long did it function? In order to answer these questions, we made two survey pits, one in the seaward part of the mound and one — in the coastal. As it turned out, the height of the mound is over 2.5 meters, and the total volume of stone it’s composed of is between 65000 and 75000 cubic meters. A stratigraphic research showed that the mound was built in at least four stages, which differ in material and building technology. Based on ceramics found in the two pits, we suggest that the first three stages of construction were carried out in V-III centuries B.C., while the fourth stage is dated to VIII-IX centuries A.D. The bottom layer of the mound is composed of local limestones, the next two stages are built with stone brought from outside of the north coast of the Black Sea. It is not clear why would anybody want to carry out the fourth stage of construction in IX century A.D., as by them the port of Phanagoria was half-sunk and could not accept seafaring ships.