Mapping settlement desertion on the Western coast of the Black Sea: the end of Antiquity

Anca Dan (1)

1 AOROC - Archéologie et Philologie d'Orient et d'Occident

Despite Justinian's efforts to reinforce the defence of the Danubian limes by fortifying number of Black Sea and Danubian sites, the successive attacks of the Avars, Slaves and Bulgarians put an end to the Greco-Roman presence on the territory of Dobrodgea (SE of today's Romania and NE of Bulgaria) in the first decades of the 7th century. Taking over from Procopius' inventory of fortifications (On Buildings), this presentation lists the archaeological traces attesting the latest contacts of the Greek sites on the Western Black Sea coast with the Byzantine Empire, during Heraclius' reign. Going through the rich bibliography which deals with the chronological break in the Byzantine presence at the mouths of the Danube (7th-11th centuries), the paper discusses the objective proofs of the break (discontinuity in toponymy and archaeological culture) and their treatment in the historiography of the Romanian and Bulgarian ethnogenesis.

Domaines: Etudes de l'environnement; Archéologie et Préhistoire; Environnement et Société

Anca Dan. Mapping settlement desertion on the Western coast of the Black Sea: the end of Antiquity. International Digital Conference: Mapping settlement Desertion in southeastern europe from Antiquity to the modern era, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Apr 2021, Athènes, Greece. ⟨hal-03919422⟩