Editing Kerch (section)

===Ancient times===
Archeological digs at Mayak village near the city ascertained that the area had already been inhabited in the 17th–15th centuries BC. While many finds from Kerch can be found in the [[Hermitage Museum]] in St Petersburg and the local museum, a large number of antique sculptures, reliefs, bronze and glassware, ceramics and jewellery were excavated in 1855–1856 during the [[Crimean War]] by Duncan MacPherson, a surgeon from the British Army, and later donated to the [[British Museum]] in London.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG61062| title = British Museum Collection}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG59348?id=BIOG59348&page=1#page-top| title = British Museum Collection}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://opacplus.bsb-muenchen.de/Vta2/bsb10221604/bsb:BV020307300?page=7| title = Antiquities of Kertch, and Researches in the Cimmerian Bosphorus, with Remarks on the ethnological and physical History of the Crimea by Duncan MacPherson ( 1857 ) }}</ref>

Kerch as a city starts its history in the 7th century BC, when [[Greeks|Greek colonists]] from [[Miletus]] founded a city-state named [[Pantikapaion|Panticapaeum]]<ref>See [[Talk:Kerch#Meaning of Greek name?]] for discussion about the Greek name Panticapaeum.</ref> on [[Mount Mithridat]] near the mouth of the Melek-Chesme river. Panticapaeum subdued nearby cities and by 480 BC became the capital of the [[Kingdom of Bosporus]]. Later, during the rule of [[Mithradates VI Eupator]], Panticapaeum for a short period of time became the capital of the much more powerful and extensive [[Kingdom of Pontus]].
The city was located at the intersection of trade routes between the [[steppe]] and [[Europe]]. This caused it to grow rapidly. The city's main exports were grain and salted fish; wine-making was also common. Panticapaeum minted its own coins. According to extant documents the Melek-Chesme river (small and shallow nowadays) was navigable in Bosporan times, and sea [[galley]]s were able to enter the river. Much of the city's population is thought to have been ethnically [[Scythian]], later [[Sarmatian]], as implied by the large [[Royal Kurgan]] at [[Kul-Oba]].

In the 1st century AD, Panticapaeum and the Kingdom of Bosphorus suffered from [[Ostrogoth]] raids; then the city was devastated by the [[Huns]] in AD 375.

The settlement of [[Myrmekion]] was founded by [[Ionians]] in the eastern part of what is now Kerch, some four kilometers north-east of ancient [[Panticapaeum]], in the first half of the 6th century BC.<ref>{{cite web|last=Butyagin |first=Alexander|url= http://blacksea.ehw.gr/forms/filePage.aspx?lemmaId=10725 |title=Myrmekion|publisher=Foundation of the Hellenic World|date=29 July 2008|access-date=29 October 2018}}</ref>