Internet Archaeology (May 2022)
Postglacial Black Sea Level Rising, Urban Development and Adaptation of Historic Places. The case study of the city-peninsula of Nesebar (Bulgaria)
Abstract
The strengthening of a coastal zone involves a complex of hydrodynamic factors (waves, currents, wind and materials carried by them), climate, rock stability, sedimentation and eustatic fluctuations at sea level. The sea terrace on which the urban structures of Nessebar are located is formed on almost horizontal Miocene limestone sandstones, marl limestones and clays. It is limited by the steeply abraded coast, subjected to the destructive energy of the sea surf until the end of the last century. The destruction of ancient and early Byzantine constructions can be identified along the slope of the sea-cliff between the 8th and 13th isohypses (contour lines) and the coastline and along the seabed to at least the 4th isobath (depth contour). In the process of tracing the fortifications, the ancient coastline is not followed, but rather the proximity to the base of the peninsular slope. The values and relative chronology of the eustatic benchmarks corresponding to the destruction of the classical Mesambrian fortifications (third quarter of the 5th century BC) mark the coast during the regression in the middle of the first millennium BC; the route of the late Antique fortress wall (second quarter of the 5th century AD) identify the point of the rise in the sea level until the third quarter of the first millennium AD; the collapse of the northern aisle and the renewal of the monastery basilica of 'The Holy Mother of God Eleusa' in 1341/42 probably coincides with the first stages of the transgression in the second half of the second millennium AD, while the collapse of the church 'St Protomartyr Stephen' in 1855 appears to be shortly before a slow-down in this transgression. The engineering facilities, designed in the 1980s both to preserve the coastline and act as a port, confirm the optimal choice of the ancient and medieval builders in locating their sites.
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