OLBIO AND ITS OUTSKIRTS IN THE 18th — EARLY 20th CENTURIES:TOPOGRAPHIC AND HISTORIOGRAPHIC ESSAYS

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the publication and analysis of the literary and cartographic sources of the late 18th — early 20th centuries in some way or another related to the ruins of Olbio and its outskirts. Some of them are dated back to so-called «pre-Russian period» of the study of this unique complex of archaeological sites, in particular the plan of the French military topographer A. Zh. de Lafitt-Clave in 1784 where any settlements is not marked directly in the Olbio region. Further is the «Russian Old Believers episode» of the history of Ilyinske-Parutine village recorded by Count A. S. Uvarov in 1848. The author paid the main attention to several problems and aspects of the history of mapping the Olbio settlement and the Sto Mohyl (One hundred kurgans) tract which was began around 1810 by I. S. Borislavsky. Particular attention in the paper was paid to the plans of P. I. Kцppen 1819, and it is also specified that the author of one of the best plans of Olbio (1863) was A. P. Chirkov. The result of these researches is the «List of basic plans and maps of Olbio and its environs in the 1810s — 1860s» (Appendix 1). In the final part of the paper the sources of the late 19th—20th centuries which were the basis of S.B. Buyskikh’s reconstruction of the defense line of Olbian limes were analyzed in detail. The main problem with these constructions is that earthen embankments with moats have not yet been identified or explored. Based on a number of facts and field observations, the route of the road from Olbio to the west (to Tyras and other cities), which passed through Kamеnka (Anchekrak), is proposed by the author. It is clear that this assumption needs to be tested in the field using modern devices (GPS navigator, georadar and drone). In addition, the author republished the essays by I. I. Kedrin «Small town Illinskoe» 1850 (Appendix 2) and A. A. Skalkovsky about his trip to Olbio in 1861 (Appendix 3).