Tmutarakan, Medieval settlement and archaeological site in Taman Peninsula, Russia

Tmutarakan is a medieval settlement and archaeological site on the Taman Peninsula in southern Russia. The excavated remains reveal foundations of fortifications, residential areas, and remnants of towers that belonged to different historical periods.

Greeks founded a colony here in the 6th century before Christ called Hermonassa, which later became a fortress under Khazar rule. In the 10th century the site became part of a Kievan Rus principality and received its Slavic name.

The name Tmutarakan comes from the Turkic Taman-Tarkan, "city of Tarkan Taman". In Russian speech the word means a hopelessly remote backwater. Arabic writers of the 9th–10th centuries called the town Samkarsh al-Yahud, "Samkarsh of the Jews", because most trade there was handled by a large Jewish community, one of the centres of Judaism on the Black Sea.

Visitors will find informational panels in Russian and English that explain the context of the discoveries and the visible structures. The terrain is uneven in places, so sturdy footwear makes it easier to walk around the excavation areas.

A stone inscription from the year 1068 records distances across the Kerch Strait and is considered the first scientific observation in Russian history. The measurement was carried out by Prince Gleb, who documented the width of the waterway.