The strategic position at the southernmost river section of the Danube from the early Iron Age to the end of the Roman limes. Archaeological investigations of settlements and fortifications at the Tash Bair hill near Novgrad (Bulgaria)
Final Report Abstract
Between 2018 and 2024, the National Archaeological Institute with Museum Sofia (NAIM) and the Institute of Prehistory, Early History and Medieval Archaeology at the University of Tübingen investigated a micro-region on the lower Danube (northern Bulgaria). The investigations were specifically focused on a concentration of sites on the west side of the Jantra estuary, located on the prominent ridge of the Tash bair and its surroundings. As a result of this and previous research, the working area on the lower Jantra can be counted among the best-researched regions on the eastern Balkan peninsula. Already in the Late Neolithic (ca. 5100-4900 BC), a large site on the lower slope, which was strategically located at the southernmost point of the course of the Danube and through which direct access to the Jantra and thus to the Danube was possible, played a key role in the settlement of the area. After a rather sporadic settlement from the Chalcolithic to the Early Bronze Age (ca. 4900-3100 BC), the micro-region gained great importance from the Middle Bronze Age (20th-19th c. BC) onwards with the construction of a circular ditch, possibly used for ritual purposes. From the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1500-1100 BC) to the Late Iron Age (ca. 6th-1st c. BC), regional centres of power existed here, which manifested itself in small fortifications and controlled access to the Danube. This is where the transport routes along the Danube in an east-west direction and along the Jantra in a north-south direction, which became increasingly important as supra-regional trade grew, intersected. Especially for the Late Neolithic (Vădastra culture) and the Early Iron Age (Basarabi culture; 8th-7th c. BC), for this site, we can very likely assume the role of mediator of phenomena across the Danube. The favourable settlement conditions on the southern lower slope of the Tash bair were also used again in Roman and early medieval times through extensive settlements and the construction of a large early medieval rampart. Large parts of the flood-prone areas along the river meanders were also inhabited from the Early Iron Age to the Early Middle Ages. However, the silting up of the river meanders below the Tash bair and the shifting of the river to the eastern edge of the lowlands, as determined by the working group of the Institute of Geography at the University of Leuven, led to a loss of direct river access from the turn he 1st c. BC to the 1st c. AD onwards. This is possibly the reason for the lack of an Roman military station at this site and the choice of location for the Late Roman fortress Iatrus on the eastern terrace. Through our research we were able to show how favourable natural and geographical conditions promoted the development of a settlement and fortification complex on the west side of the Jantra estuary at different times. In particular, the supra-regional transport geography seems to have played an important role here. On the other hand, the loss of settlement favour due to the shifting of the river led to an increasing marginalisation of the site - a process that took place over several centuries. This ecological, probably anthropogenic crisis was finally countered by abandoning the site and relocating the entire settlement to the eastern side of the Jantra estuary at the end of the Early Middle Ages (ca. 11th-12th c.).
Publications
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Теренни археологически проучваня в м. Таш баир, землище на с. Новград, община Ценово, област Русе. In: Археологически открития и разкопки през 2018 (Sofia 2019) 83-85
Л. Вагалински; С. Конрад; Р. Краус; Л. Трайкова & Н. Кечева
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Теренни археологически проучвания в м. Таш баир, землище на с. Новград, общ. Ценово, обл. Русе. In: Археологически открития и разкопки през 2019, том 2 (Sofia 2020) 1176–1180.
Л. Вагалински; С. Конрад; Р. Краус; Л. Трайкова & Н. Кечева
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Теренни издирвания в м. Таш баир, чемлищата на селата Новград и Караманово, обш. Ценово, обл. Русе, и с. Вардим, общ. Свищов, обл. Велико Търново. In: Археологически открития и разкопки през 2019, том 1 (Sofia 2020) 18–23.
Л. Вагалински; С. Конрад; Р. Краус; Л. Трайкова & Н. Кечева
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Novgrad – Tash bair I. Archaeological investigations at the southernmost point of the Danube Razkopki i proučvanija 48 (Sofia 2023) (ISBN 978-619-245-386-2 [print]; 978-619-254-029-6 [online])
L. Vagalinski; S. Conrad; L. Traykova; N. Kecheva & R. Krauß
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Taš bair – Das Einfallstor in den Balkanraum. Archäologie in Deutschland 2023, 6, 42-45.
S. Conrad & R. Krauß
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The Region at the Lower Course of the Yantra-River. Fortifications and Settlements from the 1st to the 6th Centuries. In: Proceedings of the 24th Congress of Roman Frontier Studies held in Belgrade and Viminacium (Belgrade 2023) 1355-1369 (ISBN 978-86-6439-088-0)
S. Conrad; L. Vagalinski; L. Traykova & N. Kecheva
