Ak-Mechet'

Ak-Mechet' appears in the print version of the Barrington Atlas as a marker for a tumulus just southeast of the site of Kalos Limen (modern Chernomorskoye). This indicates that it refers to a tumulus or kurgan partially excavated as the result of chance finds in 1885; it was revealed to contain a fairly rich Scythian burial of the 5th c. BC. The funerary assemblage included four gold plaques with representations of animals and birds, a large number of bronze plaques and arrowheads, and some iron objects including a sword. The discovery was published in the Report of the Imperial Archaeological Commission for the year 1885, which noted that the kurgan was located near the village of Kara-Merkit (modern Kashtanovka), but because it was more commonly known as the Ak-Mechet' ("White Mosque") kurgan, later scholars identified it as one of a series of large kurgans in the necropolis of Kalos Limen (the name of the Tatar settlement at the same place was also Ak-Mechet'). The original publication, however, makes it clear that it should be associated with the more inland location, as argued by Shcheglov (1989), and therefore the printed Barrington Atlas location is probably incorrect.