Work of the Eastern Bospor archaeological expedition of the RAS of recent years

The archaeological study of the antiquities of the Northern Black Sea region has more than 200 years of history in Russia. The scale of research in Crimea has increased significantly since 2014. They are conducted by various expeditions on individual monuments. The East Bosporan Archaeological Expedition of the Russian Academy of Sciences is one of the oldest academic expeditions in southern Russia. The expedition conducts scientific and survey work on the study of archaeological sites of the Bosporan kingdom. Work is underway simultaneously on several ancient and medieval settlements and necropolises. Excavations are carried out almost all year round. Large-scale exploration revealed about 400 new monuments (settlements, necropolises and mounds), as well as plans for more than 1,800 different monuments on the territory of the Asian Bosporus. The long-term activity of the Bosporan Archaeological Expedition has made a significant contribution to the study of ancient monuments on the territory of the Taman Peninsula. The discoveries of the expedition served as the basis for many studies of the history of the Bosporan Kingdom. In 2015, archaeological research began on the Kerch Peninsula in Crimea. During this year, in which the new integrated South Bospo-ran expedition began work, surveys and surveys of the identified Scythian burial mound Lib-nekhtovka in the Leninsky district of the Republic of Kazakhstan were conducted. Scientific studies of mounds and ground burial grounds play an important role in solving the problem of the ethnic history of the Feodosiya region and

Prisivashia in the 5th–2nd centuries BC [1, p. 106].

The research, which took place at the identified Libnekhtovka burial ground in the Eastern Crimea, uncovered a monument with a funeral rite close to the eastern group of Scythian monuments in the Crimea, where a zone of settled farming of nomads began to form. In the funeral rite, direct similarities occur from the materials of the burial grounds of the steppes of the Northern Azov region and the south of the Left-Bank Dnieper region. Apart from the already well-known Greco-Scythian burial mounds, individual burial grounds of the Scythian culture have not been studied in the study area. The burials studied are mostly entrance burials and have a nondescript funeral rite, and include elements of the Bosporan culture. Recently, the Archeology Foundation and the leadership of the East Bospo-ran Archaeological Expedition have been excavating the ancient necropolis and settlement of Kyz-Aul [2, p. 32]. The settlement and burial ground are located near the village of Yakoven-kovo, 30 km southwest of Kerch. In the first seasons, a large-scale study of the nearby territory was carried out, more than 2,000 m2 of necropolis were explored, several dozen burials were found and 6 ancient monumental crypts were cleared. The Kyz-Aul necropolis is an ancient archaeological monument, where representatives of the upper strata of Bosporan society were buried in the period from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD.

Some scientists believe that the necropolis belonged to the city of Kitei, located in to the east. It is known for its monumental stone crypts, and the people buried here were culturally close to the Sarmatians. The southern coast of the Kerch Peninsula is still poorly studied by archaeologists [3, p. 230]. Meanwhile, it is known that several ancient cities and many settlements were located on this territory. Among them are such famous ancient cities as Kitei, Acre and Kim-merik. The city of Kitei is mentioned in the writings of Pseudo-Scylax, Pliny, Claudius Ptolemy, Stephen of Byzantium. Next to him in 257 There was even a major naval battle. The city of Cim-merik, founded by Milesian colonists on the lands of the legendary Cimmerians, also remains a mystery that has yet to be solved. It is located on Mount Opuk, an amazing and mysterious place in the Eastern Crimea. The head of the East Bosporan archaeological expedition, Candidate of Historical Sciences N.I. Sudarev, had already excavated the Kyz-Aul necropolis in the 90s of the last century. Then his expedition discovered unique monumental crypts. The Kyz-Aul necropolis consists of two layers: in the lower part there are ancient burials, and in the upper part there is a burial from the time of the Khazar Khaganate [4, p. 78]. The people who lived on it used the crypts not only for the burial of deceased relatives, but also as housing. Archaeologists have begun to clear their graves. In the immediate vicinity of the necropolis is also the Mikhai-lovskoye settlement, which, according to archaeologists, was a royal fortress in ancient times. In 2018, the expedition supported the work on the study of the fortress "Kerch". This is a unique monument of Russian history of the 19th century, created under the leadership of the legendary engineer, hero of the Sevastopol defense Eduard Ivanovich Totleben. This fortress had a total area of more than 400 hectares and dozens of kilometers of underground structures and tunnels. At one time, it was the largest fortress in the territory of the Russian Empire, which could only be compared to the fortress of Kronstadt. Most of its fortifications are still unexplored. Until 2003, the Kerch fortress was under military jurisdiction. After the end of the Great Patriotic War, military depots with property and ammunition of the Black Sea Fleet were located on the territory of the Kerch fortress. The work in the Kerch fortress in recent years has produced excellent results. The use of the GPR method to substantiate the boundaries of an underground burial ground, identified by the discovery of several dozen fragments of stone Jewish tombstones [5, p. 268].

In the spring of 2020, D.V. Beilin and A.V. Kulikov, employees of the Institute of Archeology of the Crimea, as well as I.V. Rukavishnikova, an employee of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, identified one of the sites of the earliest Jewish necropolis on the territory of the Russian Federation in the territory of the modern city of Kerch near the Crimean Bridge. Thus, the work of the East Bosporan expedition made an important contribution to the study of the region's monuments of various historical periods. Over the past 25 years, the Bosporan Archaeological Expedition has conducted a significant amount of research, thanks to which archaeologists have been able to significantly advance the study of the history of the European Bosporus and its monuments. And also, to develop the Kerch region as a very important archaeological center in the Northern Black Sea region. The Demeter Foundation is still continuing to develop research in the region and is involved in the preservation of ancient Bosporan finds.