Coordination

The project entitled Coordination handles coordination in general, the coordination of strategy and content, and the communication of organisational matters between the scholars participating in the SPP. This includes, in particular, the absolutely essential coordination of the subprojects by means of conferences and workshops.

The aim of this coordination is to formulate structural questions across all periods and geographical areas, to ensure progress, and bring together early partial results for the purpose of comparison.

The Rhine as a European transportation route

The Rhine, as a large river flowing through the centre of Europe, was a significant waterway already in prehistoric times. With the arrival of the Romans it became even more important. In order to develop the Germanic provinces, including the construction and maintenance of military and civilian infrastructure, large quantities of raw materials and other goods were required, which were primarily transported by boat. Consequently, the new settlements on the Rhine had harbours with loading and mooring facilities, which are often known but seldom well researched. The same applies to the goods transported: so far, there is no systematic record of their provenance, the quantities involved or where and how they were transshipped. Several institutions and organisations have now joined together in a common project to fill the gaps in this research. In the first phase of the project, known sites will be surveyed thoroughly and the transportation routes of selected groups of commodities, such as pottery or stone, will be determined. In a second phase, the results will be collated in order to reconstruct regional and supraregional distribution systems, particularly in view of the medieval markets that developed later.

The Thracian harbour city Ainos

The ancient harbour settlement at Ainos (today Enez in Turkey) is located in the northern Aegean estuary area of the river Hebros (Turkish Meriç; Greek Evros). Today, as a result of sediments deposited by the river, Ainos is several kilometres from the sea, but formerly − in classical and Byzantine times − it was a major shipping hub. In the course of this project, geophysical, geoarchaeological and traditional archaeological methods will be used to locate and date the harbour facilities. In addition, the progression of the fluvial sedimentation process in the area over time will be examined and the changes in the topography of the settlement due to changes in the landscape will be analysed.

Byzantine harbours on the Balkan coasts

The project focuses on the coastline from Dalmatia via the Aegean Sea to the western Black Sea and the Danube delta. Based on an analysis of all available sources and archaeological evidence, the aim is a complete survey of the coastal towns, bays and estuaries in these regions; this will make possible differentiations with regard to the respective local significance of harbours for regional communication as well as for long-distance trade. Through the cooperation of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum in Mainz with the University of Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the material of the "Tabula Imperii Byzantini" can be used in order to document for the first time systematically the medieval port places of the Balkans and to analyse them within the wider European context of the SPP 1630.

The Adriatic communication area

Harbour administration in the Byzantine Empire

Based on a wide range of source material (historical geographic and hagiographic texts, administrative documents, seals, archaeological finds, legal documents, letters, etc.) this project deals with the administrative structure and function of Byzantine harbours from the early 7th to the late 11th century. It considers the officials specifically attached to the harbours and their responsibilities as well as the operational organisation of the harbours (warehouse management, the levying of taxes and customs duties, etc.)

Inland harbours in the Frankish-German Empire

This project investigates inland shipping between the Mediterranean, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea along such major waterways as the Main, Rhine, Rhône, Saône and Po rivers in the Early and High Middle Ages, from both the archaeological and the historical perspective. As well as considering the historical and archaeological significance of the phenomenon of inland shipping, the archaeological investigations pay particular attention to three regional study areas: the Main / Saale area, the northern part of the Upper Rhine, the Rhône / Saône and Po areas; and also study specific micro-areas. Meanwhile, the historical investigations examine, on the one hand, how the German kings used the rivers for navigation purposes and, on the other hand, the role and significance of shipping for the estates controlled by monasteries.

The Fossa Carolina

Remains of the Fossa Carolina are still visible near the small town of Graben in Middle Franconia (Bavaria/Germany). Documentary sources report that the canal was constructed in 793 on the initiative of Charlemagne to bridge the major European watershed. It was one of the most important large-scale waterway construction projects of the Early Middle Ages. Within the Special Research Project (SPP) represents the Fossa Carolina the intersection of the inland navigation systems between the catchments of the rivers Danube and Rhine. An interdisciplinary team from the universities of Jena and Leipzig and from the Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege (Bavarian State Agency for Heritage Protection) will employ historical, archaeological and geoarchaeological methods to investigate the canal, its associated harbors on the Altmühl and Rezat rivers, as well as past settlement in the surroundings and the environmental conditions.

Early medieval Baltic coast harbours

The Baltic Sea region in the Early Middle Ages formed the zone of contact between the Scandinavian kingdoms, the Frankish Empire, and the Baltic and Slavic tribal areas. In the area between the Bay of Wismar and Gdańsk Bay, populated by Slavs during the Early and High Middle Ages, nine maritime trading centres have been identified so far; their harbours were key interfaces between land and water transport. The research plan envisages a systematic and interdisciplinary investigation of the harbour structures of these early medieval sites from the topographical, economic and social perspective.

Medieval North Sea coast harbours

Between the 7th and 12th centuries, numerous commercial and trading settlements came into existence on the southeastern coast of the North Sea. A common feature was their connection with suprarregional waterways and thus with commercial shipping. Although it can be assumed that these sites had harbour facilities, hardly any such facilities have yet been found in the whole of the German North Sea coastal area. An aim of this research project is to locate and survey such harbour facilities by means of drilling, geophysical measurements and archaeological sondages in order to obtain information on their structure, construction and function as well as on their economic and social significance. A joint application for the project was made by the NIhK (Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research), the Archäologisches Landesamt Schleswig-Holstein (State Archaeological Office of Schleswig-Holstein) and the Ostfriesische Landschaft (East Frisian Heritage Office).

The trade centre Rungholt (North Frisia)

Beginning in the 11^th cent. AD, the coastal region of North Frisia was subject to major geomorphological changes caused by extensive dike building. From the 12^th to 13^th cent. AD, the recently cultivated marshland offered a potential for the establishment of new seaward orientated settlements and trading centres beyond the Geest margins. However, due to the devastating effects of medieval storm surges, only little is now about these sites.

Based on the trading centre Rungholt, the project therefore focuses three potential harbour sites located along the Hever with the aim to improve our knowledge of their location, relevance and palaeogeographical context. For the first time, geophysical, sedimentological, palaeogeographical and geoarchaeological investigations will be carried out in the Wadden Sea in order to reconstruction the coastal palaeolandscape with regard to sea level changes and storm surges in the context of earlier North Frisian land reclamation.

Within the network of fluvial ports

As a rule, trading centres depend on their infrastructural links to regional and transregional traffic systems. The research on ancient overland routes already has a long tradition. In contrast, there is a considerable lack of studies concerning waterways that eventually transformed trading centres into harbours. Navigation on seas and larger lakes required human interference with nature only for the creation of landing and transshipment points. In order to make navigation possible on rivers, however, much larger infrastructural changes were required: river beds had to be cleared, towpaths were created, and already existing disturbances of the cultural landscape (such as mill and fishing weirs) had to be removed. When, how, and on whose account these measure were implicated in Central Europe, is currently not known.

HaNoA - Harbours in the North Atlantic

HaNoA examines ports from the period between 800 and 1300 in Iceland, Greenland, Shetland, the Faroe Islands, and western Norway, using the methods from maritime archaeology, history, Nordic philology, geology, petrology, geomorphology, geography, meteorology and oceanography. The studies focus on the topography of the ports, the functions of their components, the geomorphological changes they saw, the role that ballast played, and the oceanographic characteristics at play. The remains left behind both on land and in water are investigated with the aim of gaining an holistic understanding of the ports from the point of view of maritime science and economic history. The project encompasses an interconnected historical economic area, with the ports playing a key role in the process of settlement and colonisation of these islands during the Viking period. 

Central geophysical project

The aim of the central geophysical project is to survey archaeological sites in the transition zone between land and water. Despite certain limitations, well-established geophysical measurement methods (magnetic, electric, ground-penetrating radar) can be used to survey the areas on either side of the waterline in this amphibious zone. However, new methods of imaging the underground structure based on reflection seismics will be developed especially for the amphibious zone. Measurements will be taken in Iceland, on the German North Sea and Baltic coasts, the Rhine near Bonn and a location in Turkey.

Datenzusammenführung

Im Rahmen der Informationszusammenführung werden die Kerninformationen der einzelnen Projekte zu Häfen und hafenrelevanter Infrastruktur in einem relationalen Datenmodell zusammengestellt und unter Wahrung der jeweiligen Autorenrechte den anderen Projekten zur Verfügung gestellt. Damit wird eine übergreifende und konsistente Datenbasis geschaffen.

Completed projects of the first phase 2012-2015