WASHINGTON — Two decades of research by a Texas-based archaeology professor has led to an ancient Greek city located in Ukraine being designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, according to an announcement on the University of Texas website.
Joseph Carter, professor of classical archaeology and the director of the Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICA) at the University of Texas at Austin began his excavations of the fifth century B.C. port city of Chersonesos in 1994, the website stated.
Carter's group from the university was the first foreign team to be given access to the site, which is close to the port city of Sevastopol.
"Chersonesos commands our respect because of its very important place in world history, as the birthplace of democracy in this part of the world and of Christianity in the Slavic world," Carter said. "Few places on Earth have such a long and vital history."