ADZHIEL TRACT IN THE CONTEXT OF THE LOCAL HISTORY OF THE CRIMEAN AZOV REGION: KEY RESULTS AND PROSPECTS OF RESEARCH

Abstract

The object of the research is the peculiarities of the historical process on the Kerch Peninsula in the context of the local history of one of its regions. The authors conduct a detailed study of the most inhabited region of the Crimean Azov region – the Adzhiel tract, located in the western part of the peninsula to the territory adjacent to the Kazantip Bay. This gully, which goes in the north-western and south-eastern direction, fences off a significant part of the Kerch peninsula and represents one of the natural protective boundaries of the Eastern Crimea. The subject of research is to reconstruct the historical picture of the area, to define the main results and prospects for further research. Relying on a wide range of sources, primarily on the archaeological material of their own perennial excavations in the specified area, with the use of the source analysis method, the authors consider the known facts and events of the ancient history of the Kerch Peninsula in a new way. The methodological basis of the work is objectivity and historicism, which contributed to conducting of unbiased research. The novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time on a wide material, the stages of the historical development of one of the regions of the Kerch Peninsula were highlighted and the actual directions for further research in this area were identified. Due to the abundance of water and fertile soil, the Adzhiel tract was almost always inhabited by people. However, the most intense events occurred in the tract in the era of the Bosporus kingdom, when a system of defensive fortifications of the western borders of the state functioned here. Perhaps this system was more complicated than it previously seemed. This is indicated by the remains of another, previously unknown tower discovered by the authors in 2018. Thus, the authors conclude that the further prospects of research in the Adzhiel tract are connected both with the detailed reconstruction of the defence system of the Bosporus on the western frontiers of the state and also with the continuation of the study of Christian antiquities, including medieval time, and the religious life of the population of the Khazar Khaganate.