Mint at Chersonesos

This structure is believed to be a public building that produced bronze and silver coins for the ancient Greek colony of Chersonesos. Excavations uncovered 43 bronze disks, matching the size, weight, and shape of traditional Chersonesan coins, suggesting they were coin blanks (flans) and supporting the identification of the site as a mint. However, few coin-making tools have been found; aside from a smelting furnace, there is limited evidence that all stages of production occurred within this structure, raising the possibility that minting was distributed across multiple nearby locations.

The mint was constructed in the middle of the 4th century BC and was in use until the end of the Hellenistic period (ca. 31 BC). Spanning an entire city block, it was a modestly built rectangular building designed for a dense urban city. A narrow stone staircase leads to a few underground rooms with walls of limestone ashlar blocks, preserved to a height of just over two meters. Its layout resembles a domestic complex, with a central courtyard and roofed portico encompassing an internal well. There is no evidence of destruction at the mint, and the building appears to have been gradually abandoned.