This paper documents the Late-Holocene environmental changes and human presence in the northern Danube delta using a multidisciplinary approach that combines geoscientific data with archaeological findings, historical texts, and maps. It follows the formation and progression of the Chilia distributary and the reconfiguration of socioeconomic activities. Sedimentary facies identified on five new cores by changes in texture properties, magnetic susceptibility, geochemistry, and macro- and microfauna composition together with the newly obtained chronology constrain the complex evolution of the Chilia branch as filling in a long-lasting bay and then of a giant lagoon (Thiagola) which covered most of the northern delta since the Old Danube lobe inception (ca. 7500 yrs BP) till modern Chilia development. It initiated during the Greek Antiquity (ca. 2500 yrs ar BP) at the delta apex, while in Roman times (ca. 1800 yrs BP) it pursued its slow flowing into the vast Thiagola Lagoon. The most dramatic transformations occurred in the last 800 years when the river passed east of the Chilia promontory, rapidly went through the present-day Matița-Merhei basin (several decades), and created its first open-sea outlet. Solid discharge increased in two distinct periods, once in the Middle Ages (ca. 750 yrs BP) and then in the Modern Period (ca. 150 yrs BP) due to human-induced land-use changes in the Danube watershed. The chronology of the cultural remains on the pre-deltaic Chilia promontory and the multiproxy analysis of a sediment core retrieved nearby downstream suggest the terrestrial connection of the island with the mainland in ancient times. The hitherto contended issue of the old Thiagola Lagoon and its location are redefined here, as are the original identifications of ancient and medieval toponyms and hydronyms, especially for Chilia-Licostomo, Byzantine, Genoese, Moldavian, Ottoman, and Russian trading point of great importance in the political and economic history of the Black Sea and neighboring regions.

This article focuses on the finds of glazed egg-shaped rattles as well as on egg imitations of chalk and of Roman bricks discovered in Dobrudja and in nearby Varna. It is assumed that they were used in magical and religious rituals connected with fertility and vegetation cults, as well as in apotropaic and healing rites. Chalk imitations dated prevailingly to the 10th century could be relics of a local Christian-pagan syncretism. Glazed items were most probably imports from Kyiv workshops in Kyivan Rus’. The latter should be associated with the presence of people engaging in military operations led by Rus’ princes, namely mercenaries and even more probably, with merchants travelling along the waterways leading from the Varangians to the Greeks. This route was most intensively exploited in the time from the middle of the 10th to the middle of the of 11th century, which correlates with the chronology of the layers and graves where these glazed eggs were discovered, their dating points mainly being to the 11th century.

Our article refers to a special discovery made at Noviodunum, the headquarters of the Danube fleet Classis Flavia Moesica. It is about an oinophora type vessel, shaped as a ram, hich was discovered, by chance, in a cremation grave. Its presence in the necropolis of the ity must not come as a surprise to us, because such discoveries come, once again, to show its commercial and economic importance in the province. The Noviodunum market represented a luxury goods consumer from all the provinces of the empire. Regarding the chronological framing of the vessel we support the opinion that it might come from the second half of the 2nd century p.Chr.

The archaeological researches carried out during 2009-2012 period in various sectors of the Isaccea, “ Fortress” site (Noviodunum), Tulcea County made possible the recovery of an assemblage comprising osseous materials artefacts. Their study marks the beginning of the systematic analysis of this type of pieces discovered at the site. The reduced number of artefacts that is studied with this occasion (13) and their dispersion in various places of the site do not allow us to formulate some detailed conclusions. This analysis aims at highlighting the recent discoveries and the primary data related to this in an extensive manner. The catalogue offers all these significant data regarding the artefacts. They are presented according to the current methodology of the domain (C. Beldiman 2007). The typological categories that form the assemblage includes : I Tools ; III Adornments/ Accessories ; V Varia, Game pieces ; Technical pieces (Wastes). The quantitative repartition of the types illustrates a predomination of adornments/ accessories category (bone plates ; bone button), followed by the one of tools (bone points ; bone needles). Varia category comprises a bone dice and a red deer antler waste. The most of the pieces are dated from the Middle Ages (13th century) ; a piece was attributed to the Roman period (bone dice).

Like all the Ottoman fortresses in Dobrudja, the fortress of Hârșova was little known until today. In the absence of an archaeological research, only a few documents, often questioned too, were the only sources that presented the image of a strong fortification. The conquest of Dobrudja at the beginning of the 15th century also involved the Ottomans' preoccupations regarding the care and repair of the existing fortress, the conquerors being motivated by the strategic and military importance of the region. The integration in the political, military, administrative, economic, and social system of the new Ottoman province represented for Hârșova a new historical stage of special relevance. Hârşova was a significant fortified centre, that housed an important garrison, but also with a decisive economic function given by the port and by the access to the main roads that crossed Dobrudja, as well as a crossing point of the Danube, which offered a connection with the Transcarpathian roads. All these aspects gave Hârșova a special place in the Ottoman administrative framework, with consequences in the organization of the city and the surrounding land integrated into a kaza. The image of the Ottoman fortress was well known, especially thanks to the lithographs dated 1826, which depicted an imposing structure. The cartographic document published by von Moltke in 1856, which represents the oldest plan of the fortress and the town of Hârșova known so far, recorded an imposing bastion fortification, which closed the perimeter between Citatel Hill (Dealul Cetății) and Belciug Hill (Dealul Belciug). Aside from this plan, to which some brief descriptions could be added, we notice a lack of data regarding the Ottoman fortress. Thus, we turned our attention to the cartographic sources, trying to identify new plans and maps which would allow a clarification of the evolution of the Ottoman fortification. In this article, we present some of the plans of the Hârșova fortress recently discovered in the archives of Kiev and Moscow. These are particularly important and will be critically analysed in relation to the results obtained in the archaeological research so far and other documentary sources that we have at our disposal. The discovered plans constitute new, original research sources, and allow a better knowledge of the situation of the fortification from Hârșova in the course of the 18th -19th centuries