Since 1997, researchers from the Institute of Archaeology, Warsaw University have been finding traces of Roman military
presence in Crimea. Excavations have helped to discover several structures connected with the presence of Roman troops on the north
coast of the Black Sea. The first Roman military installation to be discovered and excavated in the Crimea was the ruins of a fort on
the Ai-Todor cape (ancient Charax). In the neighborhood of the fort, a barbarian burial ground was found which revealed a burying
tradition atypical of the Crimea: cremation in common, the deposition of ashes in amphorae and equipping graves with iron tools and
pieces of weaponry. Such a burial site is practically unique in the Crimea. The most similar typologically, and that has been excavated
and described in print is the necropolis at Tschatyrdag. It is important to establish whether people from the barbarian garrison were
buried near a fort which had been built by Roman soldiers. An initial survey of Tschatyrdag in the spring of 2008 produced several
sections of stone embankments and many single well dressed stone blocks. In the course of fieldwork in the summer of 2008, the best
preserved part of the defensive wall with the straight line of the wall face was found.
Research so far suggests that the fortification was built in first centuries of AD. Further excavations may produce more information....
This paper examines archaeological assemblages containing military artifacts left by the Roman army on the Crimean Peninsula. The analysis allows conclusion on the tasks preformed by the Roman contingent. Dased on the archaeological and epigraphic evidence, acrivites of the temporaty Roman expeditions in the 1 st c. AD are reconstructed. Furthermore, it is argued that in the 2nd c. Roman task forces (vexillationes) served only as a political demonstation intended th show that the allies in the area were not left alone by Rome....
The Roman fort of Apsaros in Gonio (Adjara, Georgia) still holds answers to many issues connected with the Roman military presence on the Chorokhi river in ancient Colchis. In 2014, a Polish team joined the Georgian expedition to carry out excavation in two sectors directly east of the centrally located principia. The sites were chosen based on a study of the results of geophysical prospection carried out in 2012. Two phases, dated to the early and late Roman periods respectively, were recorded. The early Roman architecture was interpreted as part of the installations and structures of a large bathhouse (
balneae
), including a mosaic floor in one of the rooms. The building was destroyed at least twice, most likely in a catastrophic fire. The article discusses the stratigraphy and the dating of the early Roman
balneae
based on glass artifacts and coins....