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The conclusion that "the corollary of a strong urban centre is not an empty countryside, but one with a dense network of intercommunicative settlements for which it provides the common focus" (Wallace-Hadrill, 1992, xiii) also holds good for the polis of Olbia. The rural territory of Olbia was most extensive and densely populated during the Classical and Early Hellenistic periods (Kryzhitskii and others, 1980, 8-12). It was a time of flourishing growth, especially in the fourth century, when the "great chora" of Olbia had arisen. As everywhere, the settlements were concentrated more densely in the immediate vicinity of the town and the further they were located from it, the greater was the distance between them (fig. 1). However, the hierarchy of settlements that surrounded the centre did not depend directly on their distance from it. This may be demonstrated by the excavation materials from the easternmost point of the "great chora," the settlement of Belozerskoe. It is worth noting that here we have an opportunity to compare two kinds of archaeological research: excavation and field survey.

Fig. 1. Sketch map of the territory of Olbia with inset map of the northern Black Sea coast. After Kryzhitskii and others (1989, fig. 1, 35) with the addition of the Dnieper estuary.

Belozerskoe (fig. 2) is located on the right bank of the river Dnieper, above one of the channels of its estuary. During the last two centuries this site has been damaged by the construction of military installations and by cultivation, especially by deep ploughing. As a result, archaeological remains have constantly been visible on the surface and stones have been carried off from the fields for re-use.

The first reference to the existence of an ancient settlement comes from a military topographer (Chirkov, 1867, 546). Subsequently, this area was investigated by a landowner who was an archaeologist-dilettante (Skadovskii, 1887). F. Braun identified the site as the Metropolis of Ptolemy solely on the basis of the ancient written sources without recourse to archaeological materials (1899, 211). Since 1946 surveys have been carried out from time to time by archaeologists from the Kherson Regional Museum, the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and Moscow State University. The results remain as yet unpublished.

Fig. 2. The Belozerskoe settlement, looking west

As a result of those surveys, it was concluded that Belozerskoe was a large settlement (nearly 10 ha) and dated from the fifth century B.C. to the third century A.D. A few sherds of mediaeval ceramic served as evidence of the revival of life there, while the kurgan situated nearby was considered to belong to the settlement's necropolis. As for its ethno-cultural character, at first this settlement was determined to be Scythian.

Trial excavations were undertaken under the direction of the author, and the results have made it possible to correct the traditional view regarding this inhabited area. On the territory two ancient settlements were found (fig. 3), an earlier one of nearly 2 ha, described in this article, and a later one of the Roman period. Between these two settlements lies an area without cultural strata, in which, however, a hoard of Olbian coins (300-280 B.C.) was discovered. The remains of destroyed graves belonging to the necropolis of the earlier settlement were found on the territory of the later one. The material culture of the earlier settlement turned out to be similar to that of sites in the Olbian chora and quite different from that of Scythian ones. The kurgan, which was expected to be synchronous with the settlements, proved to be aeneolithic with no graves of the Greco-Roman period.

Fig. 3. Plan of the Belozerskoe settlement Fig. 4. Buildings in Excavations I, II, IV, VI

On the basis of the distribution and concentration of surface finds four places were chosen for test excavations. It is of some interest that in every excavation building remains were discovered. The predominance of partly sunken structures over surface buildings can be explained by the disturbance of the upper layers by ploughing. It is not unlikely that the stone walls and floors of buildings situated considerably above the subsoil were completely destroyed. They were found only in Excavation VI where deep ploughing had not taken place. The character of the structures cannot always be precisely determined, but one can distinguish the dwellings from the household structures alongside them. As only those parts of the structures which were dug into the subsoil are preserved, the form of the buildings can be determined only approximately. The lower, sunken, part of the dwellings is of an irregular shape with rounded corners (fig. 4). They range in area from 20 to 26 m². A hearth was found in only one of these buildings. One complex has a total area of 60 m², but it may be that only part of it was living space. It is possible that, above the ground, this structure was in part made of mud-brick and wood since a mass of burned wood and several large iron nails were found in a layer of clay debris on the floor. In Excavation II a building with four earth-cut steps, which served as an entrance, was discovered. The area of the structure is 15 m² (fig. 4). In Excavation I near the dwelling there was a round household structure with an area of nearly 8 m². The other dwellings were surrounded by groups of pits for the storage of products, especially grain, and by rubbish heaps. The pits were circular, cylindrical or bell-shaped in cross section. Granary pits were of relatively large size, 2 m deep and 2 to 3 m in diameter (fig. 4). It is noteworthy that practically no traces of production complexes or slags were found either in the excavations or on the surface. Two pits were found filled with accumulations of ash containing clay votives, some of them unfired, in the form of flat cakes and loaves (fig. 7). Such offerings are usually connected with agricultural cults (Hoddinott, 1992).

Fig. 5. Building remains in Excavation VI, looking west Fig. 6. Masonry in Excavation VI

Houses with stone foundations, constructed on the level of the ancient surface, coexisted with the partly-sunken structures. The remains of walls and floors were revealed in Excavation VI (figs. 4-6). Whether such walls were built entirely of stone or with the addition of mud-brick is not clear. The masonry remains in Excavation VI are of two-layer, one bed-row construction with a thickness of 0.5 m. They were preserved only to a height of 0.2 to 0.25 m and probably were not built entirely of stone. The floor was of clay, 0.01 m thick, and is partially preserved. The dimensions of the wall and the preserved edge of the floor indicate that the room was square with an internal area of 14.8 m², and that there was at least one more adjoining room. Some broken roof tiles, all produced at Sinope, were found.

Fig. 7. Finds from dwelling N 1 (1-5) and surrounding pits in Excavation IV: plain wheel-made vessels (1); black-glazed ceramic (3, 6, 10, 11); objects of clay (2, 4, 7, 9); of horn (5); of iron (8); amphora (12); roof-tile (13) Fig. 8. Finds from pit-structure N 1 in Excavation I: amphoras (1-3); hand-made vessel (4); black-glazed cup-skyphos (5); bone (6) Fig. 9. Finds from pits N 11 (1, 2) and N 12 (3-10) in Excavation IV and from destroyed grave (11): amphoras (2-7); black-glazed ceramic (9-11); plain wheel-made ceramic (1-8); bronze (10)

Nothing was found in situ on the floors in any of the buildings. A rather large quantity of finds was found in the fill above the floors and they determine the terminus ante quem. Distribution of the finds in the fill shows that these structures were in use only during the fourth century B.C. and mainly in its first half. The earliest material is ceramic that dates from the first third of the century. It must be noted that the fill in the round building in Excavation I (fig. 4) contained early material: a black-glazed cup-skyphos (for an analogous example, see Sparkes and Talcott, 1970, no. 608 from ca. 380 B.C.), a Sinopean amphora with two stamps on the handles from 365-360 B.C. (as determined by N. Fedoseev), large "new style" Chian amphoras and biconical amphoras of Thasos (fig. 8). The main finds in this settlement are dated to the second third of the fourth century B.C. The latest finds, dating from the last third of the fourth century to the first quarter of the third, were discovered in a grave and in the upper layer destroyed by ploughing (fig. 9, no. 11).

Ceramics predominate over other material finds. In the ceramic complex, counting by sherd, amphoras form 80% and roof tiles nearly 5% of the total. Among all vessels, amphoras are proportionally fewer. The ratio of other ceramic groups to the total varies in each excavation. The quantity of wheel-made pottery, excluding amphoras, is approximately one and a half times that of hand-made ceramic. Of the amphoras, those of the Chian "new style" make up a considerable part (fig. 8, nos. 2, 3; fig. 9, nos. 3, 4; fig. 12, no. 3). Fragments of amphoras from Thasos, Heraclea Pontica and Mende, which were contemporary with those of the Chian "new style," were found in approximately equal quantity. All the Thasian amphoras are of biconical type (fig. 8, no. 1), most with stamps of the early period which ends in 340 B.C. A few stamps are from the first group of the late type (as determined by Debidour). According to their shape and stamps, the overwhelming majority of amphoras of Heraclea Pontica (fig. 9, nos. 5, 6; fig. 12, no. 2) dates from the second and third quarters of the fourth century. The Sinopean imports might be compared with those from the above-mentioned centres, but also includes roof tiles (fig. 7, no. 13) and louteria (fig. 15, no. 8). The amphoras by themselves (fig. 9, nos. 2, 7) form a considerably smaller group. The earliest Sinopean stamps on the tiles date from 373 B.C., while those on amphora handles are from 365 to 340 B.C. (All the dates given for Sinopean stamps were determined by N. Fedoseev). In addition, there were found different kinds of amphoras with wide "mushroom" rims (fig. 12, nos. 1, 4) and fragments of amphoras of Peparethos (Soloha II) which were widespread in the fourth century B.C. (Doulgéri-Intzessiloglou and Garlan, 1990). Amphora fragments from the early production of Khersonesos, dating from the second half of the fourth century B.C., have also been identified (Monakhov, 1989, 75, table I). Type-B Corinthian amphoras (fig. 12, no. 5), dated to the third quarter to the end of the fourth century B.C. (Koehler, 1982, 290-292) were found much more rarely. Corinthian production is also represented by some louteria and coppers.

Fig. 10. Finds from dwelling in Excavation VI: hand-made ware (1, 2); amphora (3); black-glazed ceramic (4-6) Fig. 11. Finds from dwelling in Excavation I (1-11) and pit-structure in Excavation II (12-14): black-glazed vessels (1, 2, 12-14); plain wheel-made ware (3-5); a lamp (6); hand-made ware (7, 8); clay loom-weights (9); bone needle (10); stone plummet (11 Fig. 12. Amphoras from building N 6 in Excavation IV

Black-glazed pottery is represented by vessels of Attic production. Table ware was found in every dwelling (figs. 7, 10, 11, 13). The earlier skyphoi, kylikes and cups are dated to the first half of the fourth century B.C. and only fragments of a single feeder go back to the end of the fifth (Sparkes and Talcott, 1970, nos. 349, 556, 558, 649, 652, 653, 655, 757, 758, 1198). Among black-glazed pottery, the vessels dating from the second and third quarters of the fourth century B.C. predominate (Corbett, 1955, 179, pl. 70, nos. 25-28; Robinson, 1950, 283-87, pl. 187; Sparkes and Talcott, 1970, nos. 681-85, 698-701, 706-13; Edwards, 1975, 32, pl. 2, no. 55; Jones, Graham, and Sackett, 1973, 377, nos. 25, 32). A small quantity of later types of kantharos was found, including vessels with decoration of West-Slope type, dating from the end of the fourth to the beginning of the third century B.C. (Dimitrov and others, 1984, 68-69, no. 12; Edwards, 1975, 20, pl. 39; McCredie, 1966, 11, pl. 6 c; Jones, Graham, and Sackett, 1973, 376, no. 16). Many graffiti were found, especially on black-glazed vessels (fig. 9, no. 9; fig. 10, no. 4; fig. 13, no. 4).

Plain table ware is represented by many different kinds of vessels (fig. 9, nos. 1, 8; fig. 11, 3-5; fig. 14). The greater part of it was produced in Olbia. Beaker-kantharoi (fig. 9, no. 8), dating from the fifth century to the middle of the fourth century B.C. (Zaitseva, 1984, 120), were typical for Olbia in both shape and fabric. A small group of kitchen ware is represented by traditional Greek pans, pots, and lids (fig. 15, nos. 9, 10). Fragments of louteria, especially from Sinope, as well as from Corinth and other unidentified centres of production were found in every excavation. Lamps (fig. 11, no. 6) and lekythoi (fig. 13, no. 5; fig. 14, no. 4) were also in use.

Fig. 13. Black-glazed ware from building N 6 in Excavation IV Fig. 14. Plain wheel-made pottery from building N 6 in Excavation IV Fig. 15. Finds from building N 6 in Excavation IV: hand-made ceramic (1-7); louterion (8); wheel-made kitchen

The inhabitants of this settlement made use of hand-made ceramic also (fig. 7, no. 2; fig. 8, no. 4; fig. 10, nos. 1-2; fig. 11, nos. 7-8; fig. 15, nos. 1-7). Some of the hand-made pots have shapes and decoration of Scythian type, other vessels imitate wheel-made types.

Besides ceramic, there were metal finds, including bronze arrowheads (fig. 9, no. 10), decorative facings with their nails, iron knives, a fragment of a sickle (fig. 7, no. 8), large building nails, and also a small quantity of glass beads. In every dwelling numerous loom weights (fig. 7, no. 4; fig. 11, no. 9) and fishing weights were discovered (fig. 11, no. 11). Tools made of bone and stone also were in everyday use.

A great mass of bones was recovered during the excavation which have been analysed by O. P. Zhuravlev. Sheep and goats occupy first place (37%), cows come second (27%, with adult animals predominating), followed by dogs (12%), horses (11%), pigs (9%), and wild animals (4%). It was noted that the bones of oxen showed the effects of drawing heavy weights. As for the wild animals, the bones of hare, polecat, kulan (onager), antelope, fox, wild boar, and dolphin were found. Among numerous bones of fish those of sturgeon, carp, perch, sheat-fish (silurus glanis), and pike were identified.

CONCLUSIONS

The foundation of the Belozerskoe settlement dates from the beginning of the fourth century B.C. It was a period in which new lands were absorbed into the Olbian polis. The cessation of life in this settlement in the first quarter of the third century B.C. coincides with a general change in the situation on the northern Black Sea coast. The third and second centuries B.C. were a time of considerable migration and expansion of different peoples in Europe and Asia. Desolation of the chora in the third century B.C. and the revival of the agricultural territory in the first century B.C. are observed not only in Olbia Pontica but also in different coastal areas of the Black Sea and Mediterranean.

As a result of the excavations, Belozerskoe must be recognised as a typical settlement of the Olbian chora. A similar material culture characterises the centre of the polis and its outlying districts. Like all Olbian countryfolk, the inhabitants of Belozerskoe were farmers, cattle-breeders, and fishermen. The large quantity and the variety of imported goods attest to the importance of trade. The circulation of money is confirmed by the quite considerable number of Olbian coins found. The closest analogies to Belozerskoe are to be found in the settlements situated near Olbia. The combination of stone and mud-brick buildings with dug structures is also characteristic of them (Kryzhitskii and others, 1989, 49, 103-25; Marchenko and Soloviev, 1988, 50-52; Okhotnikov, 1990, 12). The structure of the ceramic complex and the relative proportions of imports from different centres also coincide with the corresponding materials from settlements near Olbia. Belozerskoe is distinguished from other settlements only by a large number of roof tiles. The composition of their livestock herd is in general the same too.

The more complicated problem is to solve the question of the ethnic and social structure of the population of these settlements on the basis of archaeological sources. This is a problem to be addressed by reviewing the sources of all kinds in combination, and as such lies outside the limits of this article. However, it may be observed that the nearest neighbours of Olbia were Scythian tribes, and their culture is quite different from that of the rural territory of Olbia.

KRAEVEDCHESKII MUZEI
UL. LENINA, 9
KHERSON 28
UKRAINE 325000

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