Cimmericum

an ancient city on the southern coast of the Kerch’ Peninsula on the western slope of Mount Opuk. The city arose in the fifth century B.C. and flourished sometime at the beginning of the Common Era. In the middle of the third century the city was destroyed by tribes that penetrated from the north. In the fourth-fifth century life resumed in only part of the city. In the second half of the first millennium A.D., Cimmericum probably ceased to exist.

Excavations conducted in 1927, 1947–49, and 1950–51 revealed defensive walls measuring 2.5 m thick, limestone dwellings dating from the first to third centuries A.D., grain pits, and cisterns for water. Items found within the dwellings include stone mortars, grain mortars, pisé hearths, amphorae with grain, and pottery. The inhabitants engaged in farming, fishing, stock raising, and trade. The remains of a Bronze Age settlement were discovered beneath the layers from the classical period.