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

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: (i) understand the evolution of fluvial landscapes around Halmyris since ca. 8000 years BP, (ii) 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 humanenvironment 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.

Holocene Evolution of the Burano Paleo-Lagoon (Southern Tuscany, Italy)

“…Similar studies were conducted in other areas of the Mediterranean Sea characterized by the presence of Holocene deltas and/or the ancient ports [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29].…”

Two chironomid-inferred mean July air temperature reconstructions in the South Carpathian Mountains over the last 2000 years

“…Since this taxon is associated with aquatic vegetation, we infer the expansion of submerged and floating macrophytes (Brooks et al, 2007;Luoto, 2010). From 1930 CE the appearance of Dicrotendipes notatus-type (11-28%) likely indicates an increase in air temperature and in lake productivity, and a further increase in aquatic vegetation (Brooks et al, 2007;Giaime et al, 2019;Heiri et al, 2011;Michailova, 2009). In general, chironomids in this zone indicate a shallow lake rich in aquatic vegetation, as well as increasing temperatures and/or productivity.…”

Nonmarine Ostracoda as proxies in (geo‐)archaeology — A review

“…On the Danube Delta in Romania, at the Roman fortress of Halmyris, ostracods were used to identify the presence of a fluvial channel north of the settlement of Halmyris, which was navigable throughout the occupational periods, from the Getic/Greek to the Roman period, and could have been used as a natural harbour (Giaime et al, 2019).…”