Vladimir Putin turns archeologist

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin traveled to the Taman Peninsula on Wednesday to visit an archeological field camp near the submerged part of the ancient Greek city of Phanagoria

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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin traveled to the Taman Peninsula on Wednesday to visit an archeological field camp near the submerged part of the ancient Greek city of Phanagoria

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Expedition leader Vladimir Kuznetsov (left); Sergei Shoigu, president of the Russian Geographical Society and emergencies minister (right)

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Putin tried himself as an archeologist, picking up a brush and spending a solid two minutes cleaning an ancient ceramic container with it

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Phanagoria was once the largest Greek colony on the Taman Peninsula, spreading on two plateaus along the Asian shore of the Cimmerian Bosporus.

Photo: Vladimir Putin at an excavation site on the Taman Peninsula

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The archeological project is partially funded by the Russian Geographical Society, whose trusteeship council is headed by Putin

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"By scale and value, this monument can be compared to a rich oil deposit. Archeology is not measured in money but Phanagoria's 'capitalization' is simply astronomical," archeological expedition head Vladimir Kuznetsov said

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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on the Taman Peninsula. Expedition chief Vladimir Kuznetsov, left.