Tyragetia (Dec 2020)
Lower Dniester defensive wall (Serpent’s Wall) as part of the limes of the Roman Empire: cartographic and archaeological research
Abstract
The article is dedicated to one of the least known earthen fortifications in the southern part of the Dniester-Danube interfluve or Budzhak – the Lower Dniester (Serpent’s) Wall. It was first described by L.P.B. Campenhausen in 1789 and then researched by A.F. Veltman in the 1820s, but later historians forgot about it, and archaeologists researched it during excavations at other sites. The author presented the history of studying the object and also reconstructed its route on the basis of maps of the 1820-1840s. Today we can say that the wall lies on the right bank of the Dniester, from the village of Sergeevka, near the Black Sea, to the right bank of the Botna River, near the village of Plop-Ştiubei, on an area of 123-125 km, and the total length of its structures (with additional fortifications and the defense of the camps) reached 134-136 km. Since the wall lies on the settlements of Mologa II and Veseloe III, which belonged to the late Scythians, its lower chronological limit can be defined as the beginning of the 3rd century AD, and the upper chronological limit, according to the pedological-chronological researches by F.N. Lisetsky, is the beginning of the second half of the 4th century AD. Based on the historical situation in Tyra and its environs during this period, the author concluded that such a significant fortification was built by the Romans around the middle of the first half of the 3rd century AD.
