This fact is not so famous, but it will be interesting for everyone to know it — in the vicinity of Novy Svet there is one of the most ancient archaeological sites of Crimea. This object is Bosporan fortress, built before our era on the picturesque slopes of the mountain Karaul-Oba, a monument of ancient military engineering art.
Mount Karaul-Oba is the westernmost peak of the village Novy Svet, at its foot the famous Golitsynskaja-tropa ends from the eastern side. However, completing their excursion in the vicinity of Novyj Svet, many people make a big mistake. If you go up the slope of Karaul-Oba, you will see a very interesting place — the ruins of an ancient Bosporan fortress.
The fortress on the western slope of Karaul-Oba was built in the I century BC, when the kingdom of Bosporus was ruled by one of the most influential kings Asandr. It was decided to build a fortification here to protect the Chersonesos-Bosporos route from pirates, as well as to control the Taurians, who inhabited the surrounding area at that time. For the construction of the fortress was chosen a place above the cliff height of about 70 meters, thanks to which it was clearly visible from the sea and served as a landmark for passing ships.
The total territory of the fortress was 1.5 square kilometers, and the area of the fortified part was about 200 meters. The defense perimeter was densely built up, the thickness of the walls, made of clay sandstone and slate, was up to three meters, and the height — up to four meters. The fortress was pentagonal in plan, with four two-story towers and a bastion, and a well was dug in the fortified part in case of a siege. The garrison of the fortress was up to 100 men, and it was manned by Bosporan mercenaries from Theodosia.
For what reasons and when exactly this fortress was abandoned is not known. Its decline fell on the reign of King Aspurga, and some historians believe that the distant outpost of the Bosporan kingdom with a center in present-day Kerch was abandoned because of the increased confrontation with Theodosia. When the garrison left the fortress, everything of value was taken away, and the fortress was destroyed, but archaeologists managed to find many interesting finds here. Among them are the remains of tableware, including pythos, pottery and molded vessels, pottery, laginos, as well as weapons — arrowheads, axes, stone cores — and equipment for melting metal.
The fortress nowadays is a picturesque ruin, but it is easy to imagine the location of the premises and the scale of the fortification. This interesting monument was discovered by archaeologist I.A. Baranov in 1982. Despite the solid age of more than two thousand years, in some places the walls were preserved to a height of 1-1.5 meters. The layout of the fortified part, the boundaries of different rooms are perfectly visible.
Wander around the remains of such an ancient structure will be interesting to all who spend their holiday in Morskoye, the surrounding towns and villages. From the high cliff, on which the ruins are located, opens a beautiful panorama of the Crimean coast and seascape. And the atmosphere of this attraction of Crimea is incomparable to anything. Being here, you want to imagine how the fortress looked like in those distant times, how picturesquely it rose above the cliff, how brave ancient warriors lived here, how life once boiled.
Such places always leave in the soul a special note of nostalgia for those times, which have long gone into oblivion, but will excite and stir the imagination of mankind for a very long time, as long as there are such unique monuments of antiquity on earth.