Early Byzantine Fortification Buildings on the Western Side of the Plateau of Eski-Kermen

Abstract

The western fortification complex of the town located atop of the plateau of Eski- Kermen consists of the defensive wall, the western entrance to the town, and the fortress granary. In 2024, the author examined the fortifications on the western edge of the plateau heavily overgrown with forest and bushes, and obtained new information about the western section of the urban defences. Behind the protruding cliff X, the clearing of the area of bushes and trees uncovered the defensive wall section, which had been investigated in 1929. This section is 32.7 m long. The outer and inner facing of the wall are laid of well-hewn big rectangular limestone ashlars. The core of the wall is filled with rough stone poured with lime mortar. Big ashlars are 3.02 m long, 0.4 m wide, and 0.82 m high; small ashlars are 1.28 m long, 0.35–0.4 m wide, and 0.82 m high; the core of the wall is 0.85 m wide. In result, the total width of the wall is 1.6–1.65 m. The facing ashlars of the western wall are significantly longer than the ashlars of the eastern wall. The new research provides information allowing the one to revise the reconstructions of the defences on the western side of the plateau suggested by N. I. Repnikov and E. V. Veimarn. The latter’s conclusion that the fortification structures existed on almost all the cliffs projecting off the western side of the plateau has been disproved. The western side of the plateau was protected by high vertical precipices and the defensive wall constructed by the Byzantine military engineers.

Keywords

• средневековый крым
• эски-кермен
• ранневизантийская фортификация
• оборонительная система эски-кермена