Crimean Mountains

The Crimean Mountains form a long arc behind the peninsula’s southeastern coast, running roughly 150 kilometres between Sevastopol and Feodosia. Three ranges rise from north to south, each steeper on its southern side. The outer layers pass into forest steppe and cultivated lowland, while the highest range breaks abruptly above the Black Sea. Its plateaus, called yaylas from a Turkic term for alpine meadow, are dry surfaces of Jurassic limestone.

Rain and meltwater disappear into sinkholes and caves, feeding underground streams. Roman-Kosh on Babugan Yayla reaches 1,545 metres, the highest point on Crimea. The mountain belt compresses several worlds into a short distance.

Oak woods and Mediterranean vegetation cover lower southern slopes, beech and pine forests occupy middle elevations, and treeless pastures crown the main ridge. Passes such as Baydar Gate and the routes near Angarskyi and Okhotnyche provided crossings between coast and interior, while rivers including the Alma, Chernaya and Salhir drain northward. Caves in these mountains contain traces of anatomically later humans from about thirty-two thousand years ago. Pasturing on the yaylas later altered their plant cover, tying even the high plateaus to generations of seasonal herding and movement between coastal settlements and the Crimean interior.