70 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. IIO 



that they date from the first-fourth centuries, A marble gravestone, 

 with an epitaph in verse, belongs to the third century. 



The basihca, found in the eastern part of the district, dates from 

 the sixth century. The dimensions were 26.0 m. long and 16.5 m. 

 wide. It had three naves, with a narthex and pentagonal apse. In 

 the northern colonnade, three marble bases, and next to them a fan- 

 light, are still in place. The marble rood screen in the apse is partially 

 in existence. The side naves had a mosaic floor, whose geometric 

 design was carried out in white, red, yellow, and black in the north 

 nave, and three colors (no black) in the south nave. 



Architectural details included marble capitals, fanlights, coignes 

 with carved or polychrome ornamentation. The basilica was destroyed 

 by approximately the end of the tenth century and was subsequently 

 covered by a heavy layer of construction rubble. 



Some time later a chapel was built on the ruins of the basilica, the 

 whole being within the apse of the original basilica. Within the chapel, 

 35 mausoleum tombs were erected, and in the western part, a guard 

 hut with a stove in the eastern corner. 



The tombs were in some degree arranged according to a pattern. 

 They contained 10, 15, 25, even 35 and 60 skulls, but very few long 

 bones were found. This shows that when the remains of the dead 

 were transferred from the cemetery to the mausoleum near the temple, 

 it was considered sufficient to take only the skull. In tomb No. 6 the 

 shroud was decorated with bone plates : in the corners are large 

 lamellae with pictures of griffons, a lion, and a hind ; lateral bands 

 with circles and squares intersect in the center of the design, also 

 circles made of small squares, lozenges, and triangles, framed with 

 straight and curved lamellae. 



Such a design was found for the first time in Chersonesus and 

 constitutes a remarkable example of the local medieval art of bone 

 sculpture. The shroud appears to have belonged to a very wealthy 

 person. Beads were found in tomb No. 20 together with one string 

 of paste beads encrusted with colors and another of lignite and a 

 silver pendant. 



Other tombs yielded hollow bronze buttons, decorated bone 

 roundels, and ninth-tenth century coins. The tombs dated from the 

 tenth, eleventh, and later centuries. 



In the waterfront section of the district, compounds were uncovered 

 in the first layer which obviously belonged to two houses. Two rooms 

 had been used as food-storage cellars with wooden floors. In one 

 cellar were more than 50 assorted clay vases. Such an abundance of 

 pottery permits the conclusion that at this later date also the art of 



