68 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. IIO 



undertaken in a haphazard manner, at several places and without a 

 coordinated plan. During 1931 the question of excavation sites was 

 examined, and it was decided that priority should be given to places 

 which were in the process of destruction from natural causes. It was 

 known that the most threatened area was the northern shore of the 

 Chersonesus, where at the lowest points the archeological stratum 

 was directly encroached upon by the sea. It was here that excava- 

 tions were started in 1931, with the object of studying the coastal 

 section of the city. An area of approximately 700 square meters was 

 uncovered. 



The oldest remains were supporting walls, a pear-shaped cistern, 

 and some wells. In the lowest stratum, close to virgin rock, were 

 found amphora handles, which bore manufacturing marks of Cher- 

 sonesus, Rhodes, and Cnidus, as well as fragments of black-glazed 

 pottery, both local and imported. 



This first period of construction covered from the end of the fourth 

 to the second century B. C. 



Dating from the second period were some massive masonry walls 

 and cisterns, paved with bricks (12-20 cm. thick) bound together 

 with cement or simply with mortar. The walls of the cisterns were 

 coated in red parget of the same composition — a mixture of chalk, 

 sand, and finely crushed pottery, which is very durable. Two cisterns 

 are remarkable for their small size; they were placed together and 

 were probably used for the storing of finer grades of fish ; the larger 

 tanks were used for salting anchovies {kamsa). The large number 

 of tanks illustrated the extensive development of the fishing industry 

 and the exporting of fish during Roman times. 



During the first centuries of our era, one cistern and some of the 

 wells were covered by a layer of earth. In this layer, red-glazed pottery 

 of fine workmanship, dating from the first-second centuries B. C, 

 was found. At other places in this third stratum, silver and bronze 

 coins of the first-fourth centuries A. D. were uncovered, as was a 

 bronze statue of Asclepius, holding in his right hand a rod entwined 

 by a serpent. These cisterns can be ascribed to the first-fourth cen- 

 turies A. D. 



At the base of the second level, well-built walls rested on rock. 

 This layer, filled with refuse, was characterized by a white-glazed clay 

 pottery, decorated with a stamped or painted design, which can be 

 dated from the ninth-tenth centuries ; it appears to be of local manu- 

 facture. In one section a large quantity of ninth-tenth century coins 

 were found on the ground and also a gold plaque decorated with 

 enamel cloisonne of fine workmanship, showing two peacocks with 



