CARSIUM – Hârşova

Late Roman fort

Together with the Axiopolis fort, the archaeological site of Hârşova is a true paradigm for the evolution of the Roman Limes along the Rhine-Danubian channel, to which we can add exceptional pre-history discoveries.

Situated in the area of one of the most important cross-roads between Dobroudja and Muntenia at Ialomita mouth into the Danube, Hârşova site was inhabited from the Neolithic age till the Byzantine era. Concerning the late Roman and Byzantine times, the occasional archaeological excavations resulted in the identification of three fortification walls: the first one from Roman times, the second one from the late Roman age and the third one, still visible, from the Byzantine era. The cemetery with its important discoveries dates back to the late Roman age.

In Carsium a harbor installation was found, a massive wall of about 40 m was built at the end of the 3rd century, beginning of the 4th century AD. This wall was rebuilt several times until the Ottoman age. Also a paleo-Christian basilica was identified, dating from the 4th to the 6th century AD.

(authors: Dr. Alexandru Suceveanu, Dr. Liviu Petculescu, Dr. Ioan Carol Opriş)