On June 6, Russian troops destroyed the Kakhovka Dam, inflicting an ecocide on downstream Ukrainian territory in an attempt to stop the Ukrainian counter-offensive. For all the horror of this man-made disaster, Ukrainian archaeologists saw in it a silver lining. As said one of them, Dmitriy Nikonenko (source in Russian):
“The draining of the Kakhovka Reservoir will reveal the submerged Zaporozhian Sich, settlements and necropols of many archaeological cultures, the Kuchugurski Islands with their medieval landmarks, the villages submerged in the 20th century. Water has preserved even the giant trees on the island opposite the Zaporozhian Sich. I’ll be lying if I say that archaeologists didn’t dream of draining the Kakhovka Reservoir. But not this way, of course, because we cannot yet even imagine the level of problems that Ukraine will face.”
These hopes seem to have been fulfilled. From the New Voice of Ukraine from June 13, only days after the man-made disaster:
"Ancient Byzantine amphora discovered on Odesa beach
An ancient Byzantine amphora has been discovered on an Odesa beach following the Russian destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, the Kherson Local History Museum reported on Facebook on June 12.
The ancient jar was found by an internally displaced resident of Kherson, Yuriy Poslovskyi, who has been rescuing freshwater turtles drifting downstream on the Dnipro River to Odesa. Together with his family, he spotted a jar in the water. It was floating because a mud plug spontaneously formed in its neck.
Being a historian, Poslovskyi immediately realized the value of the find. He handed over the ancient artifact to the Kherson Local History Museum. Later analysis established the object to be a Byzantine amphora that may have washed down due to floodwaters from the coastal area, or from an ancient shipwreck.
"Anyway, the generous southern land has shared its treasures with Kherson residents," the message on Facebook reads.
Other amphoras have also been recently found in Odesa Oblast, one of which was discovered by a Territorial Defence unit building fortifications in the area.
These artifacts have been passed to the Odesa Archaeological Museum."
Below is a photo of the family with the amphora from the linked report:
And
here is the more recent report about findings on land emerging from
subsiding waters, which actually directed me to the story of the
amphora:
Russia’s ecocidal destruction of Ukraine’s Kahkovka Dam is proving to be a boon for the understanding of Ukrainian history.
Over one thousand artifacts have been discovered on the island of Khortytsia in Zaporizhzhia Oblast because of flooding after Russia caused an explosion at Ukraine’s Kakhovka Hydroelectric Dam...
Examples of newly discovered artifacts include ceramic fragments of various sizes, coins, bullets, buckles, and buttons. While these items may not be considered treasures in the traditional sense, they hold valuable historical information connected to Ukrainian culture and history...
These archaeological excavations became possible due to the destructive impact of the explosion at Kakhovka Dam. The efforts open new horizons for scientific research and expand our understanding of the history of this unique territory."
Below is a map of the disaster zone and a photo of the beautiful landscape of the island:
I wonder
whether there are truly ancient artifacts among the finds; in the
Antiquity, there were Scythian lands.
