Kepoi — Eastern Necropolis Offshore Grave Terrace
Kepoi East Grave Terrace · Taman Eastern Necropolis Submerged
Archaic to Late Antiquity·Milesian / Bosporan·🇷🇺 Krasnodar Krai, Taman Peninsula, Taman Gulf eastern lobe, Kepoi eastern necropolis offshore, Russia
About
About Kepoi — Eastern Necropolis Offshore Grave Terrace
Eastern necropolis offshore terrace of Kepoi, where 400+ burials excavated 1960–70 continue 80 m into Taman Gulf now 3–5 m underwater. The terrace is a limestone-paved mortuary landing 30 × 18 m with sarcophagus cuttings and a small rubble mole (12 m) that served funerary barges carrying grave goods. Divers (2019–2021) found two in-situ sarcophagi with lids at 4.2 m, amphora grave markers, and a Hellenistic funerary stele with gorgoneion. Subsidence of Taman Gulf (-1.3 m) drowned the lower necropolis after the 2nd c. CE, sealing graves under marine sand and protecting them from looters who had devastated the onshore kurgans.
Why it mattersOnly Bosporan mortuary harbour preserved underwater; in-situ sarcophagi provide sealed funerary context vs looted kurgans.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Whether terrace also served as cenotaph quay for Phanagoria elite
- 02Gorgoneion stele iconography source
Theories
- 01Lower necropolis drowned first, preserving elite graves that onshore looters missed
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- 6th–2nd c. BCE necropolis; terrace c.350–250 BCE
- Period
- Archaic to Late Antiquity
- Culture
- Milesian / Bosporan
- Builders
- Kepoi colonists
- Purpose
- Mortuary landing and lower necropolis for offshore burial access
- Abandoned
- 2nd c. CE drowning and Hun
- Rediscovered
- 1960s necropolis; underwater terrace 2019
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
6th c. BCE
Necropolis use begins with cremations
c.350 BCE
Limestone terrace and mole built for funerary barges
2nd c. CE
Terrace submerged and sealed by marine sand
2019
Divers locate two in-situ sarcophagi at 4.2 m
On the ground
Structures & features
45.3045° N · 36.9988° E · -4 m · 3 mapped features
Limestone Mortuary Terrace
necropolis30 × 18 m paved terrace with sarcophagus cuttings at 3.5 m
45.3046° N · 36.9989° ERubble Funerary Mole
harbour12 m rubble mole for barges serving terrace
45.3043° N · 36.9992° EIn-Situ Sarcophagus Pair
sarcophagusTwo sarcophagi with lids at 4.2 m, unlooted
45.3047° N · 36.9985° E