TARPANCHI
Crimea.
A Greek agricultural
settlement of the large fortified farmstead type along the
NW Crimean coast by the village of Okunevka. Founded
by Chersonesus in the late 4th c. B.C., the settlement was
seized and destroyed no later than the mid 2d c. B.C. by
the Scythians, who erected a small fortress on the site.
By the 1st c. B.C., Tarpanchi had become the acropolis
for a large native settlement. In the 2d-3d c. A.D. the
fortifications were replaced by dwellings, and at the same
time Sarmatian influence grew stronger. Suddenly abandoned sometime in the 3d c., perhaps because of a Gothic raid, the site was again occupied in the 8th-10th c.
The limited excavations since 1959 have not uncovered
the remains of the original Greek fortifications. The
Scythian fortress, rectangular in shape, enclosed an area
of ca. 1800 sq. m and was composed of a deep wide
trench, stone walls and towers, and an additional stone
barrier designed to counter battering rams. Among
later monuments, the excavations revealed a farm complex of the 2d-3d c. A.D. (The House with Buttresses) consisting of living quarters, storage rooms, and adjoining courtyards. Other finds suggest the local production of handmade pottery and iron objects in the 1st-3d c.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. N. Shcheglov, “Razvedki 1959 g. na
zapadnom poberezh'e Knyma,”
Soobshcheniia Khersonesskogo muzeia 2 (1961) 70-80; id., “Raskopki gorodishcha
Tarpanchi v 1960 g.,”
Soobshcheniia Khersonesskogo
muzeia 3 (1963) 67-75; id., “Tarkhankutskaia ekspeditsiia v 1962-1963 gg.,”
KSIA 103 (1965) 140-47; id.,
“Poseleniia Severo-Zapadnogo Kryma v antichnuiu
epokhu,”
KSIA 124 (1970) 19-24.
T. S. NOONAN
