REVIEW - Crimea Recapping Five Years Of Intensive Archeological Research

SIMFEROPOL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th March, 2019) Crimea is ready to summarize five years of intensive archeological research, which was launched after the peninsula rejoined Russia in 2014.

"We were the Crimean department of the Ukrainian Institute of Oriental Studies. At the end of 2013, the Ukrainian academy of Sciences completely stopped our funding. By the time of holding the [reunification] referendum [on March 16, 2014], we were completely deprived of our premises the team of scientists ... practically lost their job. Therefore, reunifying with Russia and becoming part of the Crimean Federal University saved our institute," Aleksandr Aybabin, the director of the Research Center of the History and Archaeology of Crimea at Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, said.

According to Aybabin, this year, the institute received seven grants for archaeological and historical research. The result is the publication of a book telling the history of Crimea and the international recognition of the institute's journal Materials on Archeology, History and Ethnography of Tavria, which was added to the Web of Science scientific citation indexing service.

The implementation of investment projects in Crimea, which started in 2014, required a large amount of archaeological work, Vadim Mayko, the director of the Institute of Archeology of Crimea, said.

Archeologists from Crimea and other Russian regions participated in the research, he added.

According to Mayko, outstanding discoveries were made during the excavations. They included monuments of Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods, Bronze-Age settlements, Scythian and Sarmatian monuments, unique ancient settlements as well as settlements of the Golden Horde period.

"The monuments of the late Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods ... are among the most important archaeological items we studied," Mayko told Sputnik.

The amount of archeological research is not expected to decrease this year.

The head of the underwater archeology expedition of the underwater-archeological expedition of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Viktor Lebedinsky, told Sputnik the underwater archaeology research in Crimea began in 1999.

However, in 2006-2013, due to the complicated relations with Ukraine, Russian scientists were deprived of the opportunity to obtain permits and conduct an independent field research.

As a result of the intensified underwater archaeology research in 2014, after Crimea reunification with Russia, the scope of research was expanded, leading to unique scientific findings, for example, the discovery in 2015 of the crash site of a Byzantine era-ship.

In August 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the expedition. In 2018, a second search at the shipwreck site was conducted, according to Lebedinsky.

The most interesting discoveries were made during the research conducted in 2017-2018 in the area stretching from Konstantinovsky Cape to the mouth of the Belbek River in Sevastopol.

"Ancient Roman anchors as well as a cauldron and two ingots ... were discovered to the north of the mouth of the Belbek River," Lebedinsky said.

HELP PROVIDED BY RUSSIAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY AND DEFENSE MINISTRY

The expedition scientists, together with the Russian Geographical Society and the Russian Defense Ministry, conducted searches and a sonar survey of the Russian minelayer Prut, which sank after battling the German-Turkish cruiser Goeben.

"One more [vessel] was found in August 2018, at a depth of 85 meters [279 feet], near Balaklava. It is supposedly related to the Byzantine period of the history of Crimea ... Thanks to the considerable depth, well-preserved parts of the ship and rigging, a mast of an impressive size ... and iron anchor were discovered on the seabed," Lebedinsky noted.

Underwater archaeology research in Crimea is conducted using unmanned underwater vehicles. The scientists are also planning to conduct archeological research in the eastern Mediterranean.

The Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences cooperates with the Sevastopol State University, the State Museum-Preserve "Tauric Chersonese," the Sevastopol branch of the Russian Geographical Society and the Russian Defense Ministry.