Bilkent University
The Department of Archaeology & History of Art
Newsletter No. 3 - 2004
Berezan Island
The Main Features for Archaeology
The State Hermitage
Museum is one of the
world's biggest depositories of antiquities, the
majority of which have
been excavated during its
own archaeological expeditions in the different
regions of the former
USSR. The antiquities of
Berezan,
the
island
where the Greeks first
settled when they sailed
into the Northern Black
Sea region, hold а key to
the story of Ancient
Greek colonisation of
great
significance
to
scholars the world over.
Initially, the finds from
Berezan,
where
excavations began in the
late 19th century, reached
the Hermitage through
the Imperial Archaeological Commission. Over
the period from 1961 to
1991,
however,
the
museum’s archaeological
expeditions
excavated
the island almost every
year,
and
gradually
assembled а collection of
over
9,500
ancient
artefacts.
Berezan is an island in а
strategic
position,
something
over
two
kilometres
from
the
Ukrainian
mainland
across the shallow waters
of the estuary shared by
the Dnieper and Southern
Bug rivers.
Fig. 1 The location of the site
Coastal abrasion and
changes in sea level
have reduced the island
to no more than 900 by
320 metres, but Berezan
is thought to have been а
peninsular in antiquity: а
pioneer site Borysthenes
with harbours, sources of
freshwater and access to
the hinterland.
of the cultural layer’s
formation, the construction of the first permanent
dwellings, the appearance of various and
numerous ceramic
Fig. 3
Fig. 2
Berezan island
According to Eusebius,
the date for Borysthenes’
foundation occurred in
647/646 BC. A recent
review
of
the
archaeological evidence
has shown that the
foundation date must be
in fact lowered by some
30 years. The attributable
materials
may
really
consist only of a very
small group of narrowly
specialised
and
decorated table vessels.
These
vessels
were mainly from
the workshops of
Eastern
Ionia
(fig.3), as well as
hand-made
pottery of local
manufacture from
the forest-steppe
of Scythia. Today
there
also
remains
little
doubt that the beginning
17
Import from E. Ionia
materials
of
both
imported
and
local
manufacture, and the first
burials in the Berezan
necropolis fall in the last
decade of the 7th century
BC.
During the first threequarters of the 6th
century BC, the only
types of dwelling in the
Berezan settlement were
constructions dug in the
ground (so-called “dugout
dwellings”). They were
built half in and half out of
the earth, and occupy an
area from 5 to 16 square
meters. These buildings
were
architecturally
crude, characterised by
simplicity of construction
and interior layout.
Fig. 4
‘Dugout dwelling’
Bilkent University
The Department of Archaeology & History of Art
Newsletter No. 3 - 2004
The
basic
distinction
among
dugout
constructions lies in the
form of the building: the
layout
may
be
quadrangular, oval, or
circular. Nearly 200 such
dwellings
have
been
found up to the present
time.
Fragments
of
trade
amphorae
(especially
from Klasomenae, Chios,
Lesbos, Miletus, and
Attica) made up the
largest
part
of
the
numerous finds from
these buildings (up to
80%
of
all
pottery
fragments).
Leaving
amphorae out of account,
the ratio of imported
Greek to local handmade
pottery
was
approximately 80%:20%.
Work
tools
and
ornaments, found in large
numbers
in
the
settlement, are mostly
linked to local cultures.
From all of this we may
suppose that the Berezan
population of the first
three-quarters of the 6th
century
BC
was
predominantly non-Greek
in composition.
Cardinal changes in the
cultural face of the
Berezan settlement took
place at the end of the
third quarter of the 6th
century BC. During a very
short time the whole
territory of the settlement
was built up with above
ground
homes
of
generally Greek types
(fig. 5). As has been
established, this was
preceded by preparatory
work to level the surface
of areas designated for
above ground construction.
The
newly
erected
houses possessed from
100 to 300 square meters
of space and consisted of
a
few
living
and
household rooms that
were grouped differently
about
an
interior
courtyard. Depending on
their designated purpose,
the rooms held stoves,
hearths,
portable
braziers,
a
heating
system of the fireplace
type, paving, and drains.
In the courtyards, partially
paved with fragments of
pottery and small stones,
were located wells, root
cellars, altars, and drains.
The houses were most
likely
single-floor,
although
the
wall
construction of Berezan
buildings
would
not
prevent the construction
of a second floor. The
quality of the construction
work varied and it seems
to depend on the wellbeing of the homeowner.
18
Fig. 5
Late 6th c. Berezan
On
the
whole,
construction techniques
were of a fairly high level.
The architectural appearance of the Berezan
houses indicates the
urban character of the
construction.
All
the
dwelling-places of the
Berezan settlement were
grouped in blocks of eight
or more houses. The
area of such a block
approached 2000 square
meters. The size and
placement of the blocks
were regulated by a
developed network of
streets,
which
was
evidently set up from the
beginning
to
an
approximately
regular
plan. Regulation of the
area of the settlement
occupied
by
above
ground
buildings
Bilkent University
The Department of Archaeology & History of Art
Newsletter No. 3 - 2004
evidently did not extend
to the outskirts, where
dugout
construction
continued, although to a
significantly lesser extent
than before.
Evidently
the
former
inhabitants
of
the
Berezan settlement abandoned the peninsula in a
peaceful way, not due to
any violence on the part
of the Greeks, possibly
upon the conclusion of an
agreement between the
settlers
and
native
leaders.
Such
an
agreement may have
included
payment
of
redemption fees or some
other obligation for the
land granted to the Greek
colonists, probably for an
unlimited period of time.
Perhaps, only a very
small number of the
former inhabitants of
Berezan remained living
on the peninsula. These
people were possibly
involved in construction
work at the new city or
had
some
other
relationship with the new
inhabitants.
By the end of the first
third of the 5th century
BC Borysthenes had
reached
its
greatest
dimensions,
never
attained before or since.
The construction work on
Borysthenes reached its
peak, which undoubtedly
gave it the characteristic
features of a classical
city. Cardinal changes
developed in practically
the entire cultural sphere
of
the
Berezan
settlement.
Most
significant was the growth
of the specific gravity of
wheeled
pottery
–
cooking
ware
and
tableware. From this time
forward, most of this
pottery
consisted
of
products from Athenian
workshops (not only of
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the highly artistic kind,
but also mass-produced).
This type of product
gradually
supplanted
Ionian pottery in the daily
lives of the inhabitants of
Borysthenes.
Excluded
from this process were of
course the amphorae
produced
by
Ionian
potters. It is well known
that wine was in huge
demand in the
Fig. 6
Berezan necropolis
marketplaces
of
the
northern
Black
Sea
region, sought after by
both Greeks and natives.
The amount of handmade pottery in the
ceramic
complex
of
Berezan
declined
substantially
in
comparison with earlier
times.
One
further
very
important change of this
time consisted in the fact
that the spiritual life of
Borysthenes inhabitants
now took on typically
Greek
characteristics.
Primary among these
characteristics is traces
of Greek cults. The single
known cult construction
on Berezan – the temple
17
of Aphrodite – was
erected at this same time.
The excavated part of
Berezan
necropolis
mainly belongs to this
period (fig. 6). Most of
graves for one type of
funeral
rites
were
inhumations in pits of
various
designs
and
dimensions. Bodies in
their majority were laid
extended on their back
with head to the North or
the East. Only some of
them had flexed positions
and
were
oriented
otherwise. About 10% of
the
burials
were
cremations.
Child
interments were usually
made in big vessels such
as amphorae or pithoi.
There
were
also
uncovered the remnants
of funeral feasts.
It is known that the
changes
in
life
at
Borysthenes occurred at
the end of the first third of
the 5th century BC.
These changes led to the
decline of construction
work, a sharp reduction in
the area of above ground
building
and
an
increasing amount of
dugout
construction.
Certain sections of the
urban, and possibly rural,
Berezan population may
have overflowed into
Olbia – another Ancient
Greek centre of the
region. The entire later
existence
of
ancient
Berezan is the history of
an ordinary agricultural
and fishing settlement,
not very visible against
the background of other
rural populated points of
the Olbia polis.
Curator of Berezan Collection
Department of Greek and
Roman Antiquities
The State Hermitage Museum
34, Dvortsovaya nab.
St. Petersburg 190000 Russia
Dr. Sergey L. Solovyov
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