This paper documents the Late-Holocene environmental changes and human presence in the northern Danube delta using a multidisciplinary approach that combines geoscientific data with archaeological findings, historical texts, and maps. It follows the formation and progression of the Chilia distributary and the reconfiguration of socioeconomic activities. Sedimentary facies identified on five new cores by changes in texture properties, magnetic susceptibility, geochemistry, and macro- and microfauna composition together with the newly obtained chronology constrain the complex evolution of the Chilia branch as filling in a long-lasting bay and then of a giant lagoon (Thiagola) which covered most of the northern delta since the Old Danube lobe inception (ca. 7500 yrs BP) till modern Chilia development. It initiated during the Greek Antiquity (ca. 2500 yrs ar BP) at the delta apex, while in Roman times (ca. 1800 yrs BP) it pursued its slow flowing into the vast Thiagola Lagoon. The most dramatic transformations occurred in the last 800 years when the river passed east of the Chilia promontory, rapidly went through the present-day Matița-Merhei basin (several decades), and created its first open-sea outlet. Solid discharge increased in two distinct periods, once in the Middle Ages (ca. 750 yrs BP) and then in the Modern Period (ca. 150 yrs BP) due to human-induced land-use changes in the Danube watershed. The chronology of the cultural remains on the pre-deltaic Chilia promontory and the multiproxy analysis of a sediment core retrieved nearby downstream suggest the terrestrial connection of the island with the mainland in ancient times. The hitherto contended issue of the old Thiagola Lagoon and its location are redefined here, as are the original identifications of ancient and medieval toponyms and hydronyms, especially for Chilia-Licostomo, Byzantine, Genoese, Moldavian, Ottoman, and Russian trading point of great importance in the political and economic history of the Black Sea and neighboring regions.

本文使用多学科方法将地球科学数据与考古发现、历史文本和地图相结合，记录了多瑙河三角洲北部的全新世晚期环境变化和人类存在。它遵循 Chilia 支流的形成和发展以及社会经济活动的重新配置。通过质地特性、磁化率、地球化学、大型和微型动物组成的变化以及新获得的年代学，在五个新岩心上确定的沉积相限制了 Chilia 分支的复杂演化，即填充了一个长期存在的海湾，然后是巨大的泻湖（蒂亚戈拉），从旧多瑙河叶开始（大约 7500 年 BP）到现代 Chilia 开发，它覆盖了北部三角洲的大部分地区。它始于希腊古代（约 2500 yrs ar BP）在三角洲顶点，而在罗马时代（大约 1800 yrs BP），它继续缓慢流入广阔的蒂亚戈拉泻湖。最戏剧性的转变发生在过去 800 年中，当时河流从 Chilia 海角以东流过，迅速穿过今天的 Matița-Merhei 盆地（几十年），并形成了它的第一个公海出口。由于多瑙河流域中人为引起的土地利用变化，固体排放量在两个不同时期增加，一次是在中世纪（约 750 年 BP），另一次是在现代时期（约 150 年 BP）。前三角洲 Chilia 海角文化遗迹的年代学和对下游附近取回的沉积岩心的多重分析表明，该岛在古代与大陆有陆地联系。Chilia-Licostomo、拜占庭、热那亚、摩尔达维亚、奥斯曼和俄罗斯贸易点在黑海和邻近地区的政治和经济史上具有重要意义。