Tyritake, Archaeological site in Kerch, Ukraine

Tyritake is an ancient Greek town site on a high plateau in Kerch, about 11 km south of Panticapaeum. Its ruins include low walls of irregular light-beige and tan stones forming two adjoining rectangular chambers or basins, now filled with soil and small green plants. The settlement was founded by Ionian Greeks in the 6th century BC and later rebuilt with dozens of fish-salting vats.

Ionian Greeks founded Tyritake in the mid-6th century BC, and it became part of the Bosporan Kingdom. In the first centuries AD it was rebuilt around fishing and wine production, with about 30 fish-salting vats holding up to 1,600 quintals at a time. The Goths sacked it in the 3rd century AD and the Huns in the 4th, but a settlement continued into the Middle Ages.

The settlement was known for its craft workshops and fishing, which shaped daily life for residents. These economic activities remain visible in the artifacts and remains discovered during ongoing excavations.

Tyritake lies on a high plateau within Kerch's city limits, about 11 km south of the former Panticapaeum site, and the ground is uneven. Sections of the defensive walls, up to 2.5 m thick, and about 30 stone-lined fish-salting basins survive in the open. Wear sturdy shoes; there is little infrastructure on site.

Excavations at Tyritake uncovered about 30 fish-salting vats, in which up to 1,600 centners of fish could be salted at one time. The town was rebuilt in the first centuries AD with this trade as its mainstay. The Polish Archaeological Mission of the National Museum in Warsaw, directed by Alfred Twardecki, joined the project in 2008.