Melek-Chesmen kurhan [Мелек-Чесменський курган]. Large burial mound (8 m tall and 60 m in diameter) of a noble of the Bosporan Kingdom from the 4th century BC in Kerch (ancient Panticapaeum), Crimea. Excavated in 1858, the kurhan was found to contain a stone burial chamber with a preceding corridor (dromos). The grave was found looted, and contained only the skeletal remains of a child, pottery sherds, and a small bronze bracelet with gold ornamentation.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]


Encyclopedia of Ukraine