2019 archaeological studies allow to define the layout of the central part of the medieval town on Eski-Kermen plateau, Crimea. The central part of the town included the main basilica with a square approximately 5 m wide in front of it. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the last period of the town’s existence, the western part of the square was closed by a parapet made of massive limestone blocks. Behind the parapet were residential quarters with two-storey tiled manors. The project resulted in the discovery of evidence preservation of religious life on the plateau and in the 14th century. In slab-graves cleared out in 2018–2019 the archaeo­logists first discovered a silver coin of Ozbeg Khan, coined in 1320–1341, as well as golden earrings (the 14th century) in the shape of a question mark, and a clay jar (the 14–15th centuries). All graves of the first half of the 14th century were dug in a destruction stratum dated late 13th century. Probably, after most quarters perished in fire, the townspeople continued resi­ding in a central part of the town. Most likely, at the end of the 13th and 14th centuries a chapel was added to the main basilica. In 1930s the researchers found by the basilica a tomb model of the 14th century cross-in-square temple carved from local limestone now kept in Hermi­tage museum.

The Polish ambassador to the Crimean khan Marcin Broniewski was the first to inform of the “ancient town and castle” located in the vicinity of Mangup and the settlement of Cherkes-Kermen: he visited the site in 1578. The historical name of the town remains obscure. Travelogues often call the ruins of the nameless town the “Circassian castle,” or Cherkes-Kermen after the name of the nearby village. In the late nineteenth century, the site received the common name of Eski-Kermen (Crimean Tatar for the “old castle”), which was used by the locals already in the eighteenth century. In the last decades of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the picturesque ruins of the cave town were popular among the travellers, whose accounts contained myths and legends about the ancient place along with valuable information on the condition of the site and particular objects in its territory. The archaeological excavations in 1928–1934, 1936–1937, and 1978–1982 uncovered the remains of fortifications, sacral complexes, urban buildings, and cemetery allowing the one to infer that there was a typical provincial Byzantine town in the Middle Ages. The archaeological researches in recent decades considerably expanded the notion of the layout of the town. This paper analyses all the currently available data on the topography of the town. Taking the recent years excavations into account, the topography of the town has been reconstructed by different stages, from the Early Byzantine (late sixth and seventh centuries) to the Golden Horde periods (fourteenth century).