Семибратнее городище (Лабрит): итоги и перспективы исследования
Semibratnee Gorodishche (Labrutes): Results and Perspectives of Research

Summary/Abstract: The article analyses the old and the new data about the famous Semibratnee Gorodishche (Labrutes) on the Kuban river. Labrutes is located 28 km northeast of the modern city of Anapa (ancient Gorgyppia). The first small excavation was led there in 1878-1879 by V. Tisenhausen, who had done a previous research on the Semibratnee barrows. Fieldworks of 1938-40, 1949-52 and 1954-55 revealed powerful defensive walls with rectangular towers up to 2 m high and monumental stone building. This excavation made possible to receive the data about stratigraphy and historical topography of the city. The early layer is dated by the end of the 6th – 5th century BC and is connected with a well-preserved defensive wall of this time. It is separated from the second layer of the 4th century BC by some traces of fire, which is consistent with the events of military character in the land of the Sindi known from a short story by Polienus (VIII. 55). In the late 4th century BC there was one more devastation of the city and the final destruction of its early fortifications. The third layer is connected with the late 4th – first half of the 3rd century BC, and the last with the second half of the 3rd – late 1st century BC.In 2001 a spot near the eastern corner of the defensive line yielded the basis of a round tower of the last building period. The remains of a large structure with the fallen tile roof (first half of the 3rd century BC) was found on the hill in the southern part of the city. A part of the external wall of this construction complex of almost 8 m length consists of a line of massive limestone blocks. Among the finds it is necessary to mention a leaden trade weight (419.18 g) of Euboean-Attic standard with graffito «M» on it (abbreviated mina). In perspective, the archaeological study of Labroutes can give some essentially new information about the early stage of the Greek-Sindian relations (the period when the land of the Sindi became part of the Bosporus Kingdom), and the subsequent development of this region.

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