Античная древность и средние века (May 2019)
On the Date of Destruction of the Site on the Plateau of Eski-Kermen
Abstract
To clarify the date of destruction of the site it is necessary to consider the materials of archaeological research and the evidence of written sources. Almost all the groups of ceramics under examination were produced for a long time during the period of the 12th-14th centuries or in the 13th – 14th centuries. Glazed ceramic wares of Zeuksipp group were manufactured from the end of the 12th – to the mid-13th centuries but they were used till the end of the century. The ceramic complex enables to date the layer of destruction by the 13th century and coins restrict its date by the second half of the 13th century. However, the period of destruction of city blocks on Eski-Kermen must not be connected with the raid headed by the Tatar military leader Nogai in 1278; it was done by V. L. Mytz. He referred to the addition on the margins of Sudak Synaxarium; though it informs only about the murder of the people in Sougdaia by the Tatars on the 28th of May, 1278, but the information about the attack of Nogai’s army on the city was given in addition from December 20, 1298. In the work by Rukn ad-Dīn Baybars the seizure of the Crimea by Nogai after the defeat of Tocta’s army (1290–1312) in 697 (1298) is described. However, in the addition on the margins of this work, it is said that Tocta presented Crimea to Nogai. In the same work the defeat of Kaffa, Kerch and Cherson by Nogai’s army in 1299 is given. Probably, at the same time, on the way to Cherson Nogai’s army destroyed the city on the plateau of Eski-Kermen as well. After that pogrom the residential blocks were not restored. However, on the plateau the evidences of preserving church activities in the 14th century were revealed.
