214 GRAVES WITH CIRCLES OF AMPHORAE IN THE GREEK NECROPOLEIS IN THE BLACK SEA MARGARIT DAMYANOV The aim of this text is to present a phenome- non, which seems to be specific only for the ne- cropoleis of the Greek colonies in the Black Sea area. These are graves where the grave struc- ture or space are enclosed in a circle composed of amphorae. At present, twelve such graves are known, discovered in five necropoleis from the western and northern shores of the Black Sea – those of Apollonia Pontica, Orgame, Olbia, Panticapaeum and Nymphaeum (fig. 1). As far as I am aware, not a single grave like this has been excavated in the Mediterranean – neither in Ancient Greece properly said (the mainland, the islands and the littoral of Asia Minor), nor in the areas of Greek activity in the West. The presentation of the complexes is or- ganised following their geographical position – first those from the Western Black Sea coast (Apollonia and Orgame) and after that those from the Northern Pontic littoral (Olbia and the necropoleis on the Bosporos). In this way, the ac- cent will fall on the graves from the Bulgarian lands, which until now have escaped the atten- tion of the scholars. In addition, such a review of all complexes will allow some observations to be made on the ethnic attribution of these graves that differ from the mass and ordinary (and Greek par excellence) graves in the necropoleis of the Greek colonies in the Black Sea. In the early 1980s on Kolokita promontory – some 5 km to the south of Apollonia – a tumu- lus was excavated covering two graves with dif- ferent dates (fig. 2). * The primary one – a struc- ture built of fieldstones, possibly with a wooden covering – was surrounded with two large semi- circles composed of amphorae (one in the west- ern and the other in the southeastern part of the tumulus). The northern periphery of the tumulus had been destroyed, but on the plan it could be seen that the two semicircles were parts an al- most perfect circle with diameter of some 14 m. It is interesting to note that in the western group the amphorae were placed with their mouths * Until now, only preliminary reports were published on the results from the excavations (Цанева 1986; Tzaneva 1985; Zaneva 1986). At present, the materials are being prepared for publication by the author. A text on the chronology of the graves in the tumulus was presented at the Bulgarian- Greek colloquium "Apollonia-Argilos", held in Sozopol in September 2004, and will appear in the proceedings (Damyanov, in print). Fig. 1. The Black Sea and the necropoleis with graves with circles of amphorae STUDIA ARCHAEOLOGICA UNIVERSITATIS SERDICENSIS Supplementum IV (2005) Stephanos Archaeologicos in honorem Professoris Ludmili Getov _____________________