AMPHORAS FROM THE NORTHWESTERN PART OF THE BLACK SEA AQUATORIUM: RESEARCH SUMMARY

The results of a study of the amphorae found at the northwestern part of the Black Sea are summarized in the paper. This research continue of the authors’ work on the search and introduction into scientific circulation the materials originating from the Black Sea water area of Odesa and Mykolaiv regions. In the course of the research of the past years, a certain part of the underwater finds were classified, recorded and described, some of them for the first time. In the published works on the topic there are incomplete or passing descriptions of transport amphorae but today, in the light of modern elaborations, there is an opportunity to clarify the already published materials. Almost all described collections contain the amphorae from the late archaic, classical and Hellenistic periods, the Roman and Late Antique Ages, and the Middle Ages. The discovered types of transport tare, both common and rather rare, belong mainly to the later periods. It is concerned with the already published materials which include the production of Lesvos, Chios, Phasos, Peparet, Cnidus, and Mende. However, this list does not coincide completely with the nomenclature of amphorae from hillforts and settlements in the region. The almost complete absence of Heraclean amphorae is interesting. Mapping of the currently known sites of the finds of transport amphorae in the waters of the northwestern part of the Black Sea shows the following picture. The most abundant is the region around Zmiiny Island, where two locations and the remains of a cargo ship are known. The remains of another ship are being investigated by the Institute of Archaeology, NAS of Ukraine near the Kinburn Spit. Many finds were made in the coastal area near the Budzhak estuaries, but they come from a large water area whose boundaries are not yet completely ascertained. The smallest congestion was recorded in the Odessa area, opposite the mouth of the Adzhalitsky Estuary, near and southeast of the mouth of the Dniester Estuary, near the site of the Kinburn Fortress and near the island of Tendra. Single amphorae were found near the mouth of the Tyligul estuary and southeast of Zmiiny Island at a considerable depth far from the shore.