Before the Gates of the City. German-Ukrainian Investigations in the Suburb of Olbia Pontike

Abstract

Since 2014, interdisciplinary investigations have been carried out as part of a German-Ukrainian collaboration in the suburb of the Milesian colony of Olbia Pontike. Building on the excavations by Ju. I. Kozub in the 1960s and 1970s which brought to light many pit structures with residential and economic functions dating to the 5^th cent. B.C., the new investigations have the aim of answering questions on the genesis and dimensions of the suburb. Initial geomagnetic prospecting has produced data promising for a future reconstruction of the settlement area. Pit houses from the late Archaic period as well as above-ground structures from the 5^th cent. B.C. are attested by archaeological excavations, which have yielded an unusual find spectrum which already makes it necessary to update, in many respects, the prevailing picture of an unstructured cluster of primitive dwellings. A pilot study including archaeometric ceramic analysis to determine when local production in Olbia began completes the activities conducted to date as part of the international research project whose principal findings are presented in summary here for the first time.