Antique city of acre in Crimea. What is hidden in the mysterious Crimean Atlantis off the coast of Kerch? Some facts from the history of the sunken city

Was there Atlantis? The answer is unequivocal - yes! This can be confirmed by any tourist who has visited the Crimea. The ancient city of Acre, which once stood on the shores of the Kerch Strait, sank under water at the beginning of our era. The waves of the strait hid the streets, houses and the fortress wall. Why not this mythical island-state?

Where is the city of Acre in Crimea?

"In life" - so to speak - it was located at the southernmost point. The famous ancient geographer Strabo claimed that the policy is an ice-free port belonging to. The closest modern settlement to the location of the city is the village of Naberezhnoye. Nearby are also found the village of Zavetnoe and. And all this is 30 km south of Kerch.

The history of the ancient port policy

According to ancient authors, Acre has existed since the 6th century. BC, and a century later it acquired its own fortifications from the land side in order to protect against nomadic raids. The port is described as a small settlement, but its importance for Greek navigation leaves no doubt. It stood on a cape, creating excellent conditions for ships. At the beginning of our era, approximately in the 4th century, there was a simultaneous sinking of part of the coast and changes in the water balance of the Black Sea. So Acre was under the water column, turning into the Black Sea Atlantis.

The second stage in the history of the ancient city is the return to the people. In search of Acre, toponymy played a cruel joke with archaeologists. The word "acra" is translated from Greek as "hill", "hill" (compare - "Acropolis"). Well, who will look for a hill under water? No map could help - they simply did not have a corresponding cape that had sunk centuries ago.

The sunken city was found by the will of fate. First, the researchers, examining the coast in this place, found a certain amount of material from Greek and Roman times. And in 1982, Lesha Kulikov, a schoolboy from, found a coin of the Bosporus kingdom on the shore. She became the starting point. In the 90s. of the last century, a graduate of Moscow University A.V. Kulikov led an expedition to explore Acre. At first, excavations were carried out on land, only then they moved under the sea surface.

Crimean Atlantis required a lot of money for its study, so from the very beginning Ukraine turned to Russia for help - the expedition was international. There were years when the work was not carried out at all - there was no funding. "Black archaeologists" at that time shamelessly robbed the monument - just give them free rein! But now normal, honest scientists have returned to the Crimea. The ancient city of Acre is among the priorities for archaeological research. There are plans for the subsequent transformation of the monument into a special underwater museum. There are also concerns - the observed changes in currents threaten the safety of the city.

Homeland of the Trojan hero

Some authors seriously consider Acre to be the birthplace of Achilles himself. There are mentions of such a name in ancient Greek literature. However, it was very common among the Greeks - for the simple reason that they preferred to build on the hills, so history is from the realm of legends. But it has been convincingly proven that Achilles was honored in the Crimea.

Crimean Atlantis: scuba diving excursion

Today, the priority direction of the Crimean underwater archeology is Acre. Crimean Atlantis is a real treasure for archaeologists, sea water has preserved such objects that they could never lie in the ground for millennia.
In particular, in the last season, the wooden foundations of the fortress towers and the comb were discovered here - the finds are completely unique, such an ancient tree is not found on the surface of the earth.

Acre can be visited by divers during the work of the expedition, usually the field season in Crimea coincides with the tourist season - from May to October. Experts do not mind, but categorically forbid them to touch anything on the monument. The stone fortress wall of the city, quite well preserved, is clearly visible, houses and streets are visible. In one of the buildings, a completely whole hearth was recently discovered - the unifying center of the family of the ancient Greek.

The underwater museum is in its infancy - it's too new for Crimea. Yes, and there is still a lot of manipulations, the settlement is large - according to scientists, at least 1000 people lived there permanently (according to the concepts of that time, a decent town). The interests of science are in the first position - even a temporary drainage of the territory of Acre is planned by building a dam. However, both the leadership of the peninsula and experts consider the archaeological center a promising project.

It is difficult to take underwater photos, but professional scientists are excellent at it. They regularly publish "portraits" of ancient, ancient Acre. Last November, in Feodosia, which sheltered on its perimeter, a premiere took place about this amazing place.

How to get (get there)?

Two buses run in this direction from Kerch - No. 67 (to Zavetnoye) and No. 67A (to). Get off at the stop "Naberezhnoe".

By car, it is not difficult to get to the ancient settlement on your own, here is the route you need to overcome from Kerch:

Note to the tourist

• Address: s. Naberezhnoye, Leninsky district, Crimea, Russia.
• GPS coordinates: 45.133028, 36.423812.

Scuba archaeologists still have a lot of work to do - no end. Acre, the Crimean Atlantis, is waiting for its Platons, which will make the ancient city known to the whole world! In conclusion, watch the video about this ancient Greek monument of the past in Crimea.

The Black Sea keeps in itself more than one secret, how much mysterious is hidden under its waves. One of these amazing finds the world saw only in 1982. Lovers of history, antiquities and finds, welcome to the ancient Greek port city of Acre (end of the 6th century BC) or as it was also called "Crimean Atlantis" (because of its similarity to the mythical city).

Why visit this place

The city is completely hidden under water, and you can get into it only by diving. Flooding occurred due to the rise in the level of the world's oceans and the movement of lithospheric plates. Scientists suggest that the flood occurred gradually, this is evidenced by a stone ridge that protected the townspeople from the onset of water, but, alas, the sea won. Ancient authors mentioned Acre more than once in their creations. So Strabo in his "Geography" described Acre as a small village lying in the region of the Panticapians opposite Korokondama at the entrance to the strait.

In the 80s, research work was carried out, during which the construction remains of the city and an ancient well were discovered. Locals who managed to visit Acre claim that the city has the shape of a rectangle. They were also able to find masonry and a considerable number of household items - more than 100 coins of the Bosporus kingdom, almost a dozen amphorae (4th century BC), Greek ceramics, lead anchor details, and so on. Unlike Alexandria (Egypt), which disappeared from the face of the Earth due to natural disasters, Acre continues to exist further. Archaeologists to this day do not stop studying the settlement.

Some facts from the history of the sunken city

Thanks to a thorough study of the sunken city, archaeologists discovered a well, the ruins of several towers, and partially destroyed protective walls. At a distance of more than 500 meters from the embankment, a stone ridge was built diagonally to the shore. Perhaps the locals tried to escape from the onset of water, but, unfortunately, they did not succeed. I had to leave their homes. The water swallowed everything.

Not so long ago, the Russian Geographical Society decided to hold a competition among archaeologists for an expedition to study and explore the city of Acre.

The members of the expedition will explore the underwater as well as the coastal part of the sunken city. There has been no major dredging in Acre, so the city is well preserved.

Feel like a pioneer

Such an ancient discovery is not limited to excursions, they are conducted by the Atlantis diving club, which is open daily from 9.00 to 19.00. The cost starts from 2000 rubles and above. The instructor conducts preliminary training before diving into the sea. You need to have a wetsuit and special equipment with you. Unfortunately, there are age restrictions (children under 8 years old). Those who have illnesses, for which diving is a contraindication, will also not be able to appreciate the beauty of the excursion.

The place is not devoid of tourist attractions - this is fishing, beach holidays, visiting baths, a brewery and other things. The House of Crimean Masters store is famous for paintings by local artists and souvenirs for every taste.

How to get to the underwater city of Acre

The town is located in the western part of the Kerch Peninsula. Most of its territory was hidden under water between the Yanysh estuary and the Black Sea coast in the east, 10 km south of the city of Kerch near the village. Embankment.

Acre - "Crimean Atlantis"

The Black Sea still keeps many secrets, this sea is unique in nature, but, perhaps, people do not always appreciate it properly. Many do not even suspect what secrets are hidden under the water of the Black Sea. One of these secrets, which has recently begun to open its veil, is the ancient city of Acre, today it is called the "Crimean Atlantis."

Antique settlement of the 5th century. BC e. - IV century. n. e., located on the seaside foot of the cape, part of the settlement was flooded by the sea. Acre belongs to the "small" cities of the Bosporus state.

“Behind the Nymphaeum, even further south, on Cape Takil, there was a very small village of Akra. It attracted attention in antiquity because the shore turned west from it, and thus Acre was the southernmost point of the strait from the side of Crimea. On the contrary, i.e., on the Taman Peninsula, the village of Korokondama, located on the present Cape Tuzla, was considered such the southernmost point of the strait. According to Strabo, when the strait was frozen, the ice reached these two points in the south - to Acre and Korokondama. There are almost no traces of the village of Acre today. On a high promontory, where an abandoned old lighthouse now stands alone, only in some places are visible traces of a cultural layer with fragments of ancient ceramics. In the same area, ancient graves are found, which confirm the existence of an ancient settlement in this place.

Acre is a mystery that has yet to be solved. And it all started at the end of the XVIII century when the Crimea was annexed to the territory of the Russian Empire. This event marked the beginning of active scientific exploration of these lands. Scientists began to make their travels to new unexplored lands. In parallel, they tried to find the places of Greek cities known from ancient written sources.

In the Periplus of Pontus Euxinus, many cities are named on the banks of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Kerch Strait): Panticapaeum, Mirmekiy, Nymphaeum, Kitey and the village of Acre. Strabo, Greek geographer of the 2nd c. n. e., indicated that Acre was located opposite Korokondama at the entrance to the strait. And Pliny the Elder, a Roman scientist, refers Acre to the Bosporan cities. Acre was also mentioned by Claudius Ptolemy, Stephen of Byzantium and Aelius Gordian.

Thanks to the research boom, by the beginning of the 20th century, almost all ancient cities were marked on modern maps, but nothing was clear with Acre - its ancient ruins could not be found. Initially, researchers were confused by the etymology of the name of the city, because the main and most common meaning of this name suggested that Acre should be located on an elevated place. Literally, the word "Acre" is translated as a hill or fortification. By the way, this is where the name “Acropolis” comes from, that is, the upper city.

The first to locate Acre on Cape Takil in the southeastern part of the Kerch Peninsula was Academician Pallas. He suggested this at the end of the 18th century. Paul Dubrux, one of the first scientists in Russian archeology, at the beginning of the 19th century, placed Acre just south of Takil, on the site he discovered. Until 1918, almost all researchers believed that Acre was located here, but a sensational discovery was unexpectedly made. Local fishermen accidentally found a cult table with an inscription mentioning the Kitean community. It immediately became clear to scientists that another Bosporan city, Kitey, was located here.

For the next sixty years, Acre was located on Taquila itself. In 1975, excavations were carried out during which an ancient Greek sanctuary was found, and now it seemed that the city had finally been found. But many scientists still had big doubts about the fidelity of the localization of Acre. The location of the two neighboring Greek cities, between which Acre was located - Nymphaeum and Kitei - had already been established accurately. Greek peripluses (ancient sailing directions) showed the distances between cities, and the distance from Kitei to Cape Takil was half that to Acre.

And if not for the winter storms in 1981, nothing would have cleared up. But suddenly, one lucky Kerch schoolboy began to find ancient coins on the banks of the sandy embankment that separates the salty Yanysh Lake from the Kerch Strait to the south of the village of Naberezhnoye, Leninsky District of Crimea. The student collected a fairly large collection of antique coins, moreover, from different periods. This find confirmed that scientists are not dealing with a blurry treasure, but with a flooded settlement. The coins were immediately transferred to the Kerch Museum and in the summer of 1982 the first excavations were carried out, on the embankment and on the hill south of the lake. It was then that large cultural strata of the ancient era were discovered. Finally, archaeologists encountered not an ordinary settlement, but a small urban center. It was a real sensation - an ancient city was discovered under water. Acre was finally found.

Underwater expeditions that began shortly after the first explorations established that the ancient city, which lay at a depth of up to 4.5 m, had a rectangular shape 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. Underwater research gave amazing results - defensive walls, two towers and a well were discovered. One of the walls was well preserved for as much as 110 m. From the floor side, a tower measuring 7x7 m adjoined the wall. Another defensive wall was examined 150 microns to the north. At 170 meters of the shore, at a depth of 3 m, there was a well lined with stones. And in it were seven branded amphoras of Heraclea Pontus of the 4th century BC. BC e., fragments of black-glazed pottery, a fragment of a lead anchor rod, wooden parts processed on a lathe.

An interesting fact is that in 1994-1997. Acre's archaeological research was continued by the same schoolboy who discovered the coin collection many years ago. Excavations on the coast were combined with underwater exploration of the flooded part of the city. On land, buildings of the Roman time were found - three large households. But due to lack of funding, the excavations were suspended.

And for the next 15 years, the city of Acre again turned out to be unfairly forgotten.

And only in 2011, underwater archaeologists from the Kyiv Department of Underwater Heritage and the St. Petersburg Hermitage again drew attention to a 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.

For the first time in Acre, not just visual reconnaissance was carried out, but really underwater excavations with the latest professional equipment. During two years of research, another section of the defensive wall of the city and urban development of the 4th century BC was found. BC e. The preserved height of the fortifications reached 1.6 m.

The opening of the house in the first half of the 4th century was a sensation. BC e. A broken Heraclean amphora was found on the floor. Wall masonry has been preserved in 3 rows, with a total height of up to 0.6 m. And such a good preservation of architectural remains under water is very unique. For example, in many other places on the Black Sea, such good preservation is not observed - all layers are eroded, the masonry is destroyed. But not in Acre.

It became clear that the total area of ​​the monument occupied a large area from 4 to 6 hectares, while it was at the ancient coastal level and is now almost completely flooded by the sea. Part of the layers of ancient times has been preserved on the modern coast. Under water were cultural strata dating back to the 4th century BC. BC e., and the layers - III-II centuries. BC e.

So, it turns out that Acre existed for almost 1000 years, from the end of the 6th century. BC e. before the beginning of the 4th c. n. e. Gradual flooding of the city territory began already with the beginning of a new era, due to changes in the level of the World Ocean and due to local geological processes of land subsidence. From the time of antiquity to the present day, the sea level has risen by 4 m. The studies carried out, of course, are very few to draw any conclusions in the study of Acre. But a start has been made and the city under water has already begun to reveal its secrets.