Турецкий поселок и замок Хаджибей на месте Одессы
A Turkish Settlement and Castle Khadzhibey on territory of Odessa

Summary/Abstract: The article is dedicated to study of a settlement and fortress of Khadzhibey founded by the Turks on place of what is now Primorskii Boulevard in Odessa in 1785, which was conquered by the Russian troops led by the Admiral Joseph De Ribas in September 1789. Soon after the castle had been conquered, it was disassembled by the order of Knyaz G.A. Potemkin; this was a major source for historiographic confusion among the historians of Odessa in XIX and XX centuries. Localisation of the fortress and its size stirred up scientific debates. Authenticity of scarce records was doubted: these are written witnesses of contemporaries, plans, drawings of the castle, as well as maps of the adjacent territory. Certain vagueness could be felt also in the J. De Ribas’ s report on assault of the fortress. These contradictions were fortunately eliminated through archaeological excavations led by the South-Ukrainian Pedagogical University on the territory of the castle and the settlement. Digging yielded remains of the fortress’s foundation, studied an area on place of the karavan-saraj and mosque, as well as prospected locations of port features and a lighthouse. Besides, a rich archaeological collection has been collected, a stratigraphic diagnostics of the site has been done, based on which it was possible to correct its chronology. Few sherds of Golden Horde pottery were found along with the finds of the second half of XVIII century, which is indicative of existence of a small Tatar settlement on place of the Turkish Khadzhibey in this period. The first part of the article is a brief overview of written records and a historiographic review. The second part is a generalisation of all archaeological information received over the last four years of excavations in Odessa. The archaeological evidence is the first publication.

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