Muld S.A., Kropotov V.V.

Key words: Central Crimea, Late Scythians burial structures, crypts, Late Hellenistic – Roman periods.
The article publishes the results of the investigations at Levadki, a Late Scythian necropolis in central Crimea. Many of the 150 investigated burial structures have sustained damage in recent robberies. Crypt 96 is well preserved and contains two groups of burials from different times. The grave goods allow dating the earlier burials to the last quarter – end of the 1st c. BC or possibly to the beginning of the 1st c. AD, and the later burials to the 2nd c. AD, most probably to its second half. The large chronological gap (about 150 years) between the two burials does not allow considering the buried as representatives of a single family or even clan. It would appear more logical to assume some other reasons for the more recent burials. For instance, by the late 2nd – early 3d c. AD the available space at the cemetery might have been used up. That might have forced the population to resort to burying their dead in the already existing graves.