Archeologists find location of Ancient Greek colony in Ukraine

Olbia, the Ancient Greek colony in Ukraine, opposite Berezan island, was founded in the 7th century BC by colonists from Miletus. Its harbor was one of the main emporia on the Black Sea for the export of cereals, fish and slaves.

Now, archeologists from Warsaw University and the National Ukrainian Academy of Sciences confirmed the location of a 2,000-year-old fortified Greek settlement along the Dnieper River, located near the Greek colony of Olbia.

They used aerial photographs taken with a kite and geophysical surveys to conduct their research. “Over a dozen similar settlements have been identified so far in the lower Dnieper. If we manage to raise adequate funds, we are planning to conduct research on a wider scale. In the first place we would like to do documentary work and geophysical surveys of each of the settlements because they are subject to systematic robbery excavations. Besides, they have never been comprehensively surveyed,” said Marcin Matera of the University of Warsaw, speaking to Science & Scholarship in Poland.

The settlement is thought to have been a trade center that linked the Dnieper steppes to the rest of the ancient world.