Published: Beyond the Steppe and the Sown. Proceedings of the 2002 University of Chicago Conference on Eurasian Archaeology. — Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2006. — pp. 425–447.
The Crimean peninsula is located at a crossroads of the cultural exchange between the Eastern Mediterranean-Black Sea region and the Eurasian steppes. Biogeographically, the Crimea is a convergence point of several of the major landscape zones: steppes, mountain forests and sub-Mediterranean woodlands. This natural mosaic makes it an ecologically and culturally rich region, offering the possibilities of resource exploitation to both nomadic and sedentary cultures. The interaction between these two groups is one of the major focuses of archaeology in the Crimea and other areas of southern Ukraine. The hinterland regions of the ancient Greek settlements of the region epitomise this interaction. This paper discusses the preliminary results of palynological and geomorphological research around the ancient Greek city of Chersonesos (founded in early 5th century BC). The study area includes the Heraklean peninsula and adjacent regions in the south-western Crimea. Fossil pollen and soil data suggest a gradual development of Mediterranean elements in the landscape in an area completely outside the Mediterranean region. This process resulted from a combination climatic and cultural changes that occurred during the past 7000 years. Interactions with cultural groups in south-eastern Europe and the Near East resulted in the introduction of plants and new forms of land management. In particular, the human-induced mediterranisation of the landscapes of the Heraklean peninsula during the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine occupations brought profound changes in the structure of vegetation. Therefore, this paper focuses on the adaptation of Mediterranean forms of rural production in relation to the natural conditions of the south-western Crimea. The main subject of this research is the chora of Tauric Chersonesos, one of the best preserved agricultural territories of the ancient Greek world.
