The Late Holocene evolution of the Black Sea – a critical view on the so-called Phanagorian regression

Abstract

Throughout its geologic history, the Black Sea experienced major sea level changes accompanied by severe environmental modifications, including geomorphologic reshaping. The most spectacular changes were driven by the Quaternary glaciations and deglaciations that reflect responses to Milankovitch cycles of 100 and 20 ky periodicity. Major sea level changes were also considered for a shorter and more recent cyclicity. The concept of the Phanagorian re-and transgression cycle, supposedly with a minimum sea level stand of 5-6 m below its present position in the middle of the 1st millennium BC, was established in 1963 by Fedorov for the Black Sea region. It was based on archaeological and palaeogeographical research conducted around the ancient Greek colonies of the Cimmerian Bosporus, in particular at the name giving site of Phanagoria, where underwater prospection had revealed the presence of a large number of submerged relics of the Classical Greek era. Analyses of sediment cores as well as 14C-dated fossil coastal bars in the western and southern parts of Taman Peninsula show that contemporary coastal bars are related to different sea levels. The dissymmetry can reach up to 6 m around 500 BC. This and more evidence from drill cores confirms that on Taman Peninsula many of the apparent sea level changes are tectonically induced. The subsidence may have been initiated by the release of gas from mud volcanoes inherited along anticline axes. Other observations around the Black Sea confirm that submerged archaeological sites correspond to areas where subsidence has taken places, while the so-called Holocene highstandsaid to have been located above the present-day sea level -is associated with uplift areas (triggered by the ongoing Caucasus orogeny). Recent oceanographic research carried out in the Black Sea area shows that since the Black Sea was reconnected with the Mediterranean Sea (i.e., 7500 14C BP at the latest), both marine water bodies have been in equilibrium. This fact and arguments from archaeology, history, hydrodynamics etc. lead us to question the existence of the Phanagorian regression. It is important to note that none of the sea level curves established for the (eastern) Mediterranean shows a comparable regression/transgression cycle of several metres during the 1st millennium BC. AbstractThroughout its geologic history, the Black Sea experienced major sea level changes accompanied by severe environmental modifications, including geomorphologic reshaping. The most spectacular changes were driven by the Quaternary glaciations and deglaciations that reflect responses to Milankovitch cycles of 100 and 20 ky periodicity. Major sea level changes were also considered for a shorter and more recent cyclicity. Actually, the concept of the Phanagorian re-and transgression cycle, supposedly with a minimum sea-level stand of 5-6 m below its present position in the middle of the 1 st millennium BC, was established in 1963 (Fedorov 1963) for the Black Sea region. It was based on archaeological and palaeogeographica...

First evidence of agro-pastoral farming and anthropogenic impact in the Taman Peninsula, Russia

“…2), can be attributed to the maximum marine ingression during the midHolocene and is consistent with the formation of deltaic systems in both the Black Sea and the Mediterranean (Stanley and Warne, 1994). The transgressive contact, between À615 and À585 MSL, fits tightly with RSL data from the Taman Peninsula (Porotov, 2007;Brückner et al, 2010;Fouache et al, 2012), attesting to a rapid sea- level rise between 7000 and 4500 cal BP. The progradation of the Kuban Delta in this area is recorded after around 6000 years ago.…”

Palaeogeographic Changes at Lake Chokrak on the Kerch Peninsula, Ukraine, during the Mid‐ and Late‐Holocene

“…would have forced the settlers to shift their harbor installations at least several hundred metres (perhaps even kilometres) seawards due to the extremely shallow shelf of the Sea of Azov. This has never been evidenced in archaeological excavations or surveys nor has it been reported in historical accounts (for a detailed discussion, see Fouache et al, as well as Brückner et al, ).…”

“…Since then, the few available publications on palaeogeographical research testify to the great value of investigating the coastlines of the northern Black Sea area. However, they have also highlighted the lack of detailed studies (e.g., Porotov, Gorlov, & Kaitamba, , ; Giosan et al, ; Giosan, Filip, & Constantinescu, ; Porotov, ; Preoteasa et al, ; Brückner et al, ; Fouache et al, ; Kelterbaum et al, ). In this study, we focus on the present‐day salt lake of Chokrak (Figure ) situated in the northern part of the Kerch Peninsula in Crimea, Ukraine.…”

Bronze Age settlement mounds on the Colchian plain at the Black Sea coast of Georgia: A geoarchaeological perspective

“…The relative sea level (RSL) reached nearly its current state (between −1.5 and 0 m below mean sea level) about 3000 B.C. (Giosan et al., ; Brückner, Kelterbaum, Marunchak, Porotov, & Vött, ; Fouache et al., ; Kelterbaum et al., ; Laermanns et al., ), and subsequent sea‐level oscillations of ≈1 m might have affected the settlement conditions in the marshlands close to the coast. However, it can be considered to have had only a minor effect on the areas of the investigated mounds, which are located at an altitude between ≈4 and 11 m a.s.l.…”

“…(Giosan, Filip, & Constantinescu, ; Lericolais, Bulois, Gillet, & Guichard, ; Ryan, ), the water table rose significantly until it nearly reached its current position around 3000 B.C. (Fouache et al., ; Giosan et al., ; Kelterbaum et al., ). In coastal Georgia, extensive back‐barrier areas were mainly silted up by fluvial sediments; they changed between 3000 and 1500 B.C.…”