Halmyris: Geoarchaeology of a fluvial harbour on the Danube Delta (Dobrogea, Romania)

Gwenaël Magne,Emmanuel Gandouin,Nick Marriner,Alexandra Bivolaru,Matthieu Giaime,Christophe Morhange

doi:10.1177/0959683618810397

Abstract

In Northern Dobrogea, north of the Dunavăţ promontory, the Roman fortress of Halmyris was founded in the late 1st century AD on a Getic settlement dating to the middle of the 1st millennium BC, probably associated with a Greek emporium of the Classical and Hellenistic periods. At the time of the foundation of Halmyris, the Danube delta had already prograded several kilometres to the east leading to the progressive retreat of the sea and the formation of a deltaic plain characterised by numerous lakes and river channels. Here, we present the results of a multiproxy study combining sedimentology and palaeoecology to (1) understand the evolution of fluvial landscapes around Halmyris since ca. 8000 years BP and (2) identify the fluvial palaeoenvironments close to the city in Getic/Greek and Roman times, in order to locate and characterise the waterfront and the harbour. Our overriding objective was to improve understanding of human–environment relations in river delta settings. We demonstrate that Halmyris, protected by the Danubian floods due to its location on a palaeo-cliff top, had direct access to the river. A secondary channel of the Saint George, flowing north of the site, has been elucidated between the 7th century BC and the 7th century AD and could have been used as a natural harbour.

Highlights

In recent decades, deltaic environments have attracted interdisciplinary research interest, looking to understand human-environment interactions in these important waterfront areas
Our work is based on the study of two sedimentary cores drilled on the Danube delta plain (HAI (335 cm in length): 45° 1'32"N; 29°11'48"E; ca. +1 m a.s.l.; and HAIII (577 cm in length): 45° 1'34"N; 29°11'56"E; ca. +0 m a.s.l.) immediately near Halmyris
Because core HAIII represents a more complete sedimentary sequence than HAI, we decided to discuss the palaeoenvironmental evolution of Halmyris based on the main bio-sedimentological units identified in HAIII

Summary

Introduction

Deltaic environments have attracted interdisciplinary research interest, looking to understand human-environment interactions in these important waterfront areas (seeAnthony et al, 2014). The Danube delta is one of the largest fluvial and wave-dominated delta’s in the world and constitutes one of Europe’s major wetland zones. It has been listed on the UNESCO World. Geoarchaeological studies looking to understand environmental changes at several ancient sites located on the southern margin of the Danube delta have been undertaken Bony et al, 2013, 2015; Histria, Vespremeanu-Stroe et al, 2013, Bivolaru et al, in press; Enisala and Babadag, Preoteasa et al, 2018, Bivolaru et al, in press; see Figure 1.A for location) These different studies have highlighted the interplay between environmental and anthropogenic changes, furnishing new data on the evolution of the ancient sites. Despite the geoarchaeological importance of the Lower Danube, its ancient and medieval fluvial harbours are poorly known

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Conclusion