Acre in Crimea (Crimean Atlantis). Acre Crimea Underwater city Acre in Crimea
CRIMEAN ATLANTIS
The Black Sea continues to keep a lot of secrets and mysteries. However, some of them are revealed literally before our eyes. This is exactly what happened with Acre - the real “Crimean Atlantis”. The ancient city, one and a half thousand years ago absorbed by the waters of the Black Sea, was discovered quite recently and today is unique archaeological site and tourist attraction Eastern Shore Crimea.
The ancient Greek polis of Acre flourished for almost eight centuries, from the end of the 6th century BC. until the beginning of the 4th century AD. The period for history is considerable. And although the port town itself was small, during its life, culture developed over hundreds of generations, and there was active trade with other colonies and states. Archaeologists read all these details of the life of the ancient city from artifacts found in the cultural layer. Today there is a permanent international research expedition working here, and yet, thirty years ago, scientists did not know the exact location of Acre and could not imagine that not ancient maps or documents, but an accidental discovery of a Soviet schoolboy, would help find it.
In the “Periplus of Pontus Euxine,” that is, in the map of the Black Sea, compiled more than two thousand years ago, many cities are named on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus: Panticapaeum, Myrmekium, Nymphaeum, Kitaeus and Acre. Strabo, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century AD, argued that the latter is located just at the entrance to the Kerch Strait opposite Korocondama, a Bosporan city on the Taman Peninsula. Acre was mentioned by both Claudius Ptolemy, the great scientist who laid the foundations of cartography, and Pliny the Elder. By the beginning of the 20th century, almost all ancient cities were put on modern maps, but Acre could not be found. The very name of the city initially confused researchers, since the main and most common meaning of the word suggested that the settlement should have been located on a hill, because “Acre” is translated from Greek as hill. The second meaning of the word is “fortification,” which also did little to help scientists in their search for the lost ancient city. By the way, over the past 2000 years, the water level in the Black Sea has risen by four meters. The sea slowly came to land, and the inhabitants of Acre actually began to build their houses on the “ mainland» – further from the coast, at higher elevations.
For almost two hundred years, Acre could not be found. It was “placed” on almost all high capes at the entrance to the Kerch Strait. But these places did not correspond to the descriptions of the distances between the Bosporan cities, which the Greek peripluses preserved for us. The ancient city was found quite by accident by a simple schoolboy from Kerch. Lesha Kulikov on the shore of a sandy embankment separating the salty lake Yanyshskoye from Kerch Strait, found many coins of the Bosporan kingdom of various dates. This became the key to solving the mystery of Acre's location. In 1982, professional excavations were carried out, which revealed to humanity a city hidden under water for many hundreds of years. Underwater archaeologists at a depth of four and a half meters discovered an ancient settlement in the form of a trapezoid with an area of at least 4 hectares. To the east of the city, at a depth of seven meters, there was a harbor. Defensive walls, two towers and a well with seven branded amphorae of Herakpeia Pontica, fragments of black-glazed pottery, fragments of a lead anchor rod, and lathe-processed wooden parts of a small table were found.
Things often happen in life that decide your fate. The discovery of Kerch schoolboy Alexei Kulikov not only revealed the ancient flooded city to the world, but also determined the future life of the young man. He graduated from university and became an archaeologist. And in the mid-1990s, a young scientist explored a small land part of Acre. Excavations on the shore were combined with underwater exploration of the flooded areas of the city. On land, buildings dating back to Roman times were studied - three large households. But for the next fifteen years, the city again found itself unfairly forgotten, telling its stories only to dolphins. Since 2011, research has resumed, with both professional scientists and amateur divers doing it. And literally in three years more was explored in Acre than in the previous thirty years. Underwater research in the Black Sea is a complex matter, especially in the strait, the water is often cloudy and visibility is poor. Sometimes you have to work almost by touch. The expedition works at the site from May to early July. While the water had not yet warmed up and the overgrown algae had not covered the seabed with a terry green carpet.
According to scientists, Akra is the only such well-preserved settlement in the entire Black Sea region. And some other ancient coastal cities were flooded, for example, most of Olbia (modern Nikolaev region). But a lot there has been crushed by storms. But Acre was lucky - its location and the geological processes of land subsidence and sea level rise occurred in such a way that they were able to protect the city from destruction. From the materials collected by scientists over the years of research, a certain picture can be drawn. Acre was a completely typical ancient Greek polis with culture and way of life, as in all other ancient settlements of the Black Sea region. The main occupation of its inhabitants was agriculture. Scientists found a wooden comb in good condition at the bottom. On one side there are large teeth, on the other there are smaller ones. The first were intended for combing hair, and the second - for getting rid of annoying insects - lice, since hygiene in those days was at a primitive level. One of the most amazing finds of Acre can be called a defensive tower, which has no analogues in other ancient monuments. The tower was decorated with rusticated blocks not only from the outside, but even from the inside. What is most impressive is that this massive structure, about fifty square meters in area, stood on a wooden platform made of huge oak beams. And what’s surprising is that the wood was preserved so well underwater that if these beams were pulled ashore, they could still be used in construction today.
While clearing the bottom, archaeologists find very a large number of items: coins made of various alloys, arrowheads, lead products, wooden plates, kitchen utensils and parts of amphorae. At the bottom, researchers often came across wooden pyxid boxes and other interesting products of ancient craftsmen. What usually decays into dust on earth during this period of time, here in the underwater city is almost in its original form. The preservation of the structures is also striking: defensive walls up to two meters high, elements of neighborhood development, houses and pavements. It is clear that archaeologists have no problems with artifacts. But they exist in another way. Active urbanization has begun in the Kerch Strait - new large ports are being built that can transform the entire hydrological system of the adjacent water area. The currents will change, and Acre, so carefully preserved by the sea for almost two and a half millennia, may simply be washed away. That is why it is necessary to explore it as soon as possible in order to tell the world the reliable story of the “Crimean Atlantis”.
Crimea with its ancient settlements is a kind of small Hellas. A little worn out, but still there living history, imprinted in every stone of its destroyed walls. And it’s not at all necessary to invent a time machine and fly it to Ancient Greece to feel like a contemporary of Pythagoras or Aristotle. It is enough just to go on an excavation, and you are no longer in the 21st century, but, having passed through an unimaginable thickness of time, somewhere there, in the 5th-4th centuries BC, at the very source of the foundation of ancient Acre. It is not difficult to imagine how Greek aristocrats and ordinary townspeople once walked along these now flooded streets. And now, two and a half thousand years later, curious and brave travelers with a rich imagination will have the opportunity to dive under the water and see ancient Acre with their own eyes. " Crimean Atlantis“is a real miracle, which is hard to believe in, but its reality refutes all the absurd talk of skeptics that miracles do not happen. The underwater ancient city is already ready to tell its stories not only to onlooker fish or dolphins, but also to Crimean tourists.
Based on the materials of the article by O. Burachenok, V. Vakhoneev “Acre - an ancient city at the bottom of the Black Sea », magazine« Treasure Peninsula » ( №1, 2014).
Acre is a small ancient Greek port city (according to ancient Greek authors - a small village) in Crimea, which existed from the end of the 6th century BC. e. to the 4th century AD e. Located in the very southern point Kerch Strait, at the foot of Cape Takil (according to Strabo, the ice-free port of the Bosporan kingdom). Due to the lowering of the bank, part of the settlement - layers of the 4th century BC. e., including a 30-meter section of the defensive wall, is under water. Acre is called the “Crimean Atlantis”.
Research
In addition to Strabo, Acre was mentioned by Ptolemy, Stephen of Byzantium, in the periplus of Pseudo-Arrian and Aelius Herodian. The first survey in 1976 was carried out by researchers of the Kitey settlement E.A. Molev and N.V. Moleva. Anthropomorphic steles and an amphora brand were found on the seaside terrace. In the early 1980s. on a sand spit between Lake Yanysh and the sea A.V. Kulikov found more than a hundred antique coins and other antique objects near the scientific base of AzCherNIRO. These findings prompted subsequent research. In the summer of 1982 V.N. Kholodkov (Kerch Museum) conducted the first excavations, both on the embankment and on the hill south of the lake, during which cultural strata of the ancient era without clearly defined stratigraphy were discovered. A.N. Shamrai discovered the remains of an ancient wall under water and a well. In 1983-1985. K.K. Shilik (LOIA AS USSR) began underwater research in this area and established that the ancient city lies at a depth of 4 m, and to the east of it, seaward and to a depth of 7 m, there was a harbor. During underwater exploration, defensive walls, two towers and a well were discovered, in the filling of which seven amphorae of Heraclea of Pontic IV century were found. BC e., fragments of black-gloss pottery, a fragment of a lead anchor rod, wooden parts made on a lathe.
Geography
The city occupied the northeastern tip of the cape, formed by the mouth of an ancient nameless river and the Cimmerian Bosporus (Kerch Strait). Its territory probably had the shape of a trapezoid with an area of about 3.5 hectares, now almost completely hidden by the waters of the Black Sea, with the exception of a small western area on a sandy bridge that turned the mouth of the river into the modern Lake Yanysh off the coast of the Kerch Strait. Due to the transgression of the Black Sea, which began around the middle of the 1st millennium AD. e., the ancient city found itself at a depth of 4 m. Features of the wave regime in this part of the coast Kerch Peninsula led to the fact that cultural layers ancient city basically they were not washed away and its buildings were not completely destroyed, but were only partially covered with sea sand.
Acre ( modern name Akko, a city located in Israel) is one of the most ancient cities in the Middle East. The city was first mentioned in the 16th century BC. in chronicles related to the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose the Third in Egypt. In a later period of its history, Acre was ruled by one of King Solomon's viceroys. Around 725 BC. Acre joined Sidon and Tire during the anti-Assyrian revolt.
The city is also mentioned in ancient greek legends. According to one of the myths, Hercules, during his journey, found a miraculous plant in Acre, with which he treated his wounds.
After the conquest of the city by the troops of Alexander the Great, Acre was renamed Antioch, and after the division of Alexander's kingdom by his generals into parts, Ptolomeis.
IN further history The acreage was typical of Middle Eastern cities. Acre has repeatedly become part of a wide variety of states. The city was ruled by the Egyptian Ptolemies and the kings of the Selkvid dynasty and even the king of Armenia Tigran II. At the end of the war, Acre became part of the Roman Empire, and after its fall it became part of Byzantium.
In 638, Acre was conquered by the Arabs. According to medieval chronicles, the city surrendered to the new conquerors without a fight after the Arabs captured Jerusalem.
Photo Port of Acre
It was with the Arab conquest of Acre that the era of prosperity of the city began. The Arabs made Acre the main seaport Palestine, and the city retained this status until the end of the Crusades.
Having captured Accra, the Arabs began to build powerful fortress walls in the city. In addition, huge ship docks were built in Acre, the second most important after Tire in this region. It was in Acre that those ships were built on which the Arabs subsequently launched attacks on Cyprus, Sicily and mainland Italy.
The Arab geographer al-Muqqadasi, who visited Acre in the 10th century, described the city as a well-fortified fortress with a large harbor and a large number of mosques. Let us also add that the Arab Acre was larger in size than the modern old part of the city, which was built up in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Age of the Crusaders
The most famous pages in the history of Acre are connected with the history of the Crusades. In 1104, after a 4-year siege, the city was captured by the crusaders of King Baldwin the First of Jerusalem. The Crusaders also reserved Accra the right to be called the main port in Palestine.
Through Acre the crusaders received their main reinforcements from Europe. This contributed to the growth of the city and already 30 years after the conquest of the city, the population of Acre was approximately 25,000 people, which was comparable only to Jerusalem.
Photo of Acre fortress
In addition, Acre was the main trading port of the Crusaders in the eastern Mediterranean. The main trade between European countries and the Middle East took place through Acre, and Acre in those days rivaled such famous trading cities as Venice or Pisa in its wealth and prosperity.
True, the crusaders surrendered the city ingloriously after the Muslims captured Jerusalem. History repeated itself, as in the case of the Byzantines. Acre was a strongly fortified fortress, it was impossible to blockade it from the sea, and its garrison could easily receive reinforcements from Europe. But instead, the crusaders chose to leave the city.
In 1192, thanks to the help of King Richard the Lionheart, the crusaders managed to recapture the city. Acre became the capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem (Jerusalem at that time was already lost to the Crusaders), and subsequently the city was also the residence of the Master of the Templar Order. Acre became the last fortress, which was owned by the Crusaders in the Middle East. After its fall in 1292, the era of the Crusades ended.
During the assault by the Mamluks, the city was almost completely destroyed and lay in ruins for a long time. Only the Ottomans began to restore Acre in the mid-16th century, but it was a completely different city and a completely different story.
The discovered ancient city of Acre has already been called the “Crimean Atlantis”. But, unlike Atlantis, ancient Acre is in an untouched state and scientists have a lot of discoveries to make.
Not far from Kerch, at the foot of Cape Takil, at the southernmost point of the Kerch Strait, a group of underwater archaeologists from an international expedition is exploring the ancient city of Acre, which was swallowed up by the waters of the Kerch Strait several thousand years ago.
The ancient city of Acre is a small ancient Greek port city in Crimea, which existed as part of the city from the end of the 6th century BC. e. to the 4th century AD e. located Acres on 3.5 hectares in the eastern part Crimean peninsula and was surrounded by a six-meter wall.
This protection saved the city from enemy raids and storms. Due to geological changes coastline The Black Sea and the formation of the Kerch Strait, part of the ancient settlement and a 30-meter section of the defensive wall of the ancient city of Acre were under the water advancing on the city.
The ancient name of the city of Acre was preserved in the name of the land measure - Acre(English) acre; fr. acre, lat. ager and acra, celt. acre- field ) - a land measure used in a number of countries with the English system of measures. 1 acre equal to 0.4 hectares; 1 acre = 1/640 sq. miles. 1 acre. = 4046.86 m² ≈ 0.004 km²
In the depths of the sea, researchers have a view of the defensive walls of the ancient city of Acre. All archaeological layers of the ancient city were preserved under water in an untouched, undisturbed state.
Over the past two years, a large number of architectural structures have been found in excellent preservation. The head of the archaeological expedition, Viktor Vakhoneev, considers the ancient city of Acre to be a real treasure trove for underwater archaeologists, who call the ancient Greek city of Acre “Crimean Atlantis.”
Underwater archaeologists explore residential areas of the ancient city. The layout of the streets of ancient Acre and ancient residential buildings, houses in which people once lived, are well preserved. Furniture, utensils, a woman's comb were found; such items are not preserved on land at all, but in the sea they survived and were found in their original form. In the study area, defensive walls of the city were discovered; 3-4 rows of stone masonry more than 1 m 60 cm high were preserved under water. Archaeologists mapped most of the stone masonry.
Leading researcher of the State Hermitage Sergei Soloviev, participating in the underwater expedition, notes that a large number of fragments of antique ceramic dishes, clay amphorae for transporting wine, oil, fish, grain and other products were found on the territory of the city of Acre.
Residents of the city of Acre were engaged in trade, fishing and shipping. Researchers at Acre determined that it was not a very large trading city of the Bosporan kingdom, occupying an area of 4 hectares. The presence of defensive walls around the city suggests that Acre was ready for defense and knew how to protect itself from the attacks of nomads.
The Black Sea Center for Underwater Research is now preparing underwater excursion routes around the ancient city of Acre for tourists, lovers of underwater adventures, and divers. Creation of the underwater archaeological park “Crimean Atlantis” in ancient Acre
occurs with the support of the public and the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
The head of the underwater archeology department of the Black Sea Center for Underwater Research, Viktor Vakhoneev, is confident that underwater excursions around the ancient Greek city of Acre will be very popular among tourists. This object is most suitable for underwater excursions, as it is located at low deep sea, no more than 4 meters. An archaeological expedition is currently working in underwater Acre off the coast of Kerch.
In parallel with the work of archaeologists, tourist divers are offered excursion route entitled "Participant in an underwater archaeological excursion." Tourists who love underwater adventures are offered an unforgettable underwater walk through ancient Acre and watch the work of underwater archaeologists.
There are still a lot of fish and crabs in these places. Those who know how to catch crayfish can easily cope with catching sea crabs. For lovers of spearfishing, the amazing underwater world of the Black Sea opens up.
Viktor Vakhoneev believes that it will be interesting for tourists to dive themselves and, together with archaeologists, participate in research work under water.
The head of the department of underwater archeology of the Black Sea Center for Underwater Research says that the ancient Acre was registered this year as historical monument and is protected by the state. The Ministry of Resorts and Tourism of Crimea is interested in creating the first underwater archaeological park in Ukraine on the basis of the archaeological expedition.
The Black Sea is fraught with many secrets, it is unique in nature and we, perhaps, do not always appreciate it enough. Most domestic divers strive to go to the resorts of Egypt, Turkey, and the Maldives, not quite understanding or even knowing what secrets are hidden under the waves of our sea. One of these secrets, which just recently began to lift its curtain for us, is the ancient city of Acre, nicknamed the “Crimean Atlantis”. Let's plunge into the romance of underwater archaeology, scientific research and simple recreational diving.
Acre is a kind of “Terra Incognita”. At the end of the 18th century, Crimea was annexed to the territory of the Russian Empire. This event marked the beginning of active scientific exploration of these lands. Encyclopedist scientists began to make their journeys to new lands. At the same time, they tried to localize the sites of Greek cities known from ancient written sources.
The “Periplus of Pontus Euxine” names many cities on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Kerch Strait): Panticapaeum, Myrmekium, Nymphaeum, Kitey and the village of Acre. Strabo, Greek geographer of the 2nd century. AD, indicated that Acre was located opposite Korocondama at the entrance to the strait. But Pliny the Elder, a Roman scientist, classifies Acre as a Bosporan city. In addition, Acre was mentioned by Claudius Ptolemy, Stephen of Byzantium and Aelius Gordian.
By the beginning of the 20th century, almost all ancient cities were localized modern maps, but there were small problems with Acre - its remains could not be found. The etymology of the name of this city initially confused researchers, since the main and most common meaning suggested that Acre would be located on an elevated place, because literally the word “Acre” is translated as a hill or fortification. This is where the name "acropolis" - the upper city - comes from.
Academician P.S. Pallas was the first to give “registration” to Acre back at the end of the 18th century, placing it on Cape Takil in the southeastern part of the Kerch Peninsula. Paul Dubrux, one of the pioneers of Russian archeology, at the beginning of the 19th century placed Acre a little south of Taquil, on a site he discovered. Until 1918, almost all researchers were convinced that Acre was here, but a sensational discovery was made. Local fishermen found a cult table with an inscription that mentioned the Chinese community. It became clear that another Bosporan city was located here - Kitey.
For the next 60 years, Acre was located on Taquila itself. When excavations were carried out here in 1975 and an ancient Greek sanctuary was found, it seemed that the city had finally been found. But many researchers had doubts about the correct localization of Acre. The location of two neighboring Greek cities, between which Acre was located - Nymphaeum and Kitaeum - was precisely established. The Greek periplus (ancient sailing directions) informed us of the distances between cities, and the distance from Kitea to Cape Takil was half as much as to Acre.
After the winter storms of 1981, one Kerch schoolboy began to find ancient coins on the shore of the sandy embankment separating the salty Yanysh Lake from the Kerch Strait south of the village of Naberezhnoe Leninsky district Crimea. A lucky schoolboy collected a fairly impressive collection of antique coins from different periods. This confirmed that here scientists are not dealing with a simple washed-out treasure, but with some kind of flooded settlement. The coins were transferred to the Kerch Museum and already in the summer of 1982, an employee of the Kerch Museum V. Kholodkov carried out the first excavations, both on the embankment and on the hill south of the lake, during which powerful cultural strata of the ancient era were discovered. It became clear that archaeologists were faced not with an ordinary settlement, but with a small urban center. A sensation has occurred in science - an ancient city under water has been discovered. Acre was finally found...
The underwater research of the Bosporus Expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences, led by K. Shilik, which began shortly after the first discoveries, established that the ancient city, which lay at a depth of up to 4.5 m, had a rectangular shape in plan, with an area of at least 4 hectares. To the east of it, more seaward and to a depth of 7.5 m, there was a harbor. During underwater exploration in 1983-1985. defensive walls, two towers and a well were discovered. One of the walls was well preserved for 110 m. A tower measuring 7 x 7 m was adjacent to the wall on the floor side. Another defensive wall was examined 150 m to the north. A well lined with stones was found 170 m from the shore at a depth of 3 m. In its filling, seven branded amphorae of Heraclea from the Pontic 4th century were discovered. BC, fragments of black-glazed pottery, a fragment of a lead anchor rod, wooden parts processed on a lathe.
Archaeological research in Acre continued in 1994-1997. the same schoolboy who discovered a collection of coins 15 years ago. He graduated from university and became an archaeologist. Excavations on the shore were combined with underwater exploration of the flooded part of the city. On land, buildings from Roman times were studied - three large households. But for the next 15 years, the city of Acre again found itself unjustly forgotten.
Only in 2011, underwater archaeologists from the Kyiv Department of Underwater Heritage and the St. Petersburg Hermitage again paid attention to this unique archaeological monument.
The modern period of development of underwater archaeological research in the Northern Black Sea region was marked by the resumption of large-scale work in Phanagoria, Olbia and Chersonese. Total reconnaissance in the water area is being carried out South Bank Crimea, medieval shipwrecks in Novosvetskaya Bay are being comprehensively studied, a sensational discovery was made near Zmeiny Island: merchant ship IV century BC. with a load of amphorae from Peparet. In light of these events, ancient Acre also could not remain out of sight of archaeologists.
Diving in Lately has become a very popular and generally accessible sport and recreation. This led to the involvement of not only scientific workers in the ranks of the expedition, but also members of the military-historical diving club "St. Andrew's Flag". Collaboration between professional archaeologists and professional divers and volunteer divers from different countries allowed us to achieve significant results in just two seasons.
For the first time in Acre, not just visual reconnaissance was carried out, but real underwater excavations with professional diving equipment. Over the course of two years of research, a section of the city’s defensive wall and urban development of the 4th century was excavated. BC. The surviving height of the fortifications reached 1.6 m.
The opening of a house from the first half of the 4th century was a peculiar sensation. BC. So far, only one of its premises has been studied, with an area of 25 square meters. m. A broken Heraclean amphora was found on the floor. The masonry walls have been preserved in 3 rows, total height up to 0.6 m. Such preservation of architectural remains under water is unique. Neither in Olbia, nor in Chersonesus, nor in other places where we conduct our underwater archaeological research, this is not observed - all the layers are washed away, the masonry is destroyed. But not in Acre.
We were able to sketch and put on plans the main elements of urban development, such as: defensive walls (and, apparently, the so-called northern defensive wall dates back to Roman times), stone pavements, and the premises of city houses. For excavations of the ancient city, hydraulic ejectors for shallow depths are used, and special plastic tablets are used for underwater drawings and records. Each expedition member has the necessary diving skills and basic knowledge in the field of archaeology.
It has already become a tradition of the expedition to invite underwater archaeologists from Poland, friends whom I was lucky enough to meet in Gdansk, to join it. maritime museum at UNESCO courses to improve the qualifications of underwater archaeologists. A number of Hermitage researchers, professional archaeologists, specially took diving courses to participate in our underwater expedition. And this year we were glad to honor divers from Lithuania and Vietnam in our ranks. For a number of years now, a diver from Russia, underwater photographer, and volunteer Ernst Antonov from the Krasnodar Territory has been collaborating with us.
Any real underwater archaeological expedition is very different from simple dives, when if the site is not interesting, it is changed. In 2012, we spent 1.5 months on Acre; individual discoveries were accompanied by routine everyday issues and periodic storms. And in general, digging under water is a very delicate and painstaking matter. Therefore, I am very grateful to all our participants for their work, since the expedition is not only the joy of new discoveries, but, first of all, a team of like-minded people. We were lucky both with the discoveries and with the team.
Acre existed for almost 1000 years, from the end of the 6th century. BC. until the beginning of the 4th century. AD The gradual flooding of the city began with the beginning of the new era, both due to changes in the general level of the World Ocean and due to local geological processes of land subsidence. From antiquity to today sea level has risen by 4 m. Two years of research, of course, is a short time to sum up the results in the study of Acre. But a start has been made: there is enthusiasm, there is desire too. The city under water has just begun to reveal its secrets to us.
Text: The head of the expedition is acting. Head of the Department of Ancient Archeology of the Department of Underwater Archeology of the National Research Institute. Academy of Management Personnel of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine Viktor Vakhoneev.
Photo: Master Diver SSI, PADI AOWD/DEEP/WRECK/NITROX, CMAS** and simply good man Ernst Antonov.
Rice. from the book “What is Archeology”, Amalrik A.S., Mongait A.L., Prosveshchenie Publishing House, 1966.