DANUBIUS

Project Overview

The DANUBIUS project investigates the processes of Christianisation in the Lower Danube and northern Black Sea region between the 3rd and 8th centuries. It brings together epigraphic and archaeological data, prosopographical approaches, and the interpretative contribution of textual sources. The project seeks to advance our understanding of ecclesiastical organisation, the dynamics of Christian expansion, and the transformation of religious landscapes in a region situated at the intersection of multiple political, cultural, and religious spheres.

Principal Investigator: Dominic Moreau

The DANUBIUS WebGIS within the Chronocarto environment

Developed in collaboration with Chronocarto, the DANUBIUS WebGIS provides a digital research environment for the spatial exploration of the project’s data. Rather than serving as a simple cartographic display, it is designed as a tool for querying, visualising, and interrelating heterogeneous datasets within a coherent geographical and chronological framework.

Conceived as an evolving platform, the WebGIS is embedded within the Chronocarto ecosystem, which supports the integration of geohistorical datasets and fosters experimentation with new forms of spatial analysis.

Data and structure

The WebGIS integrates several types of data:

archaeological data (sites, buildings, excavation contexts);
epigraphic data (inscriptions, media, discovery contexts);
prosopographical data (ecclesiastical actors and associated networks).

These datasets are articulated with geographical and chronological reference frameworks derived from literary sources, which provide the interpretative scaffolding and overall coherence of the corpus.

The data are structured to enable complex cross-querying, with each record associated with both a spatial location (point-based or regional) and a chronological framework. This organisation allows for seamless navigation across the different dimensions of the corpus—places, actors, material attestations, and interpretative frameworks.

Functionalities and modes of exploration

The WebGIS will offer several modes of exploration:

cartographic visualisation of sites and ecclesiastical structures;
querying of the data according to spatial, chronological, and thematic criteria;
navigation between related entities (for example, between a bishop, his see, and the attestations documenting him);
articulation of different analytical scales (site, region, network).

Some of these functionalities remain under development or refinement, following an iterative approach characteristic of digital humanities projects. This ongoing work reflects, in particular, the challenge of reconciling a rich and complex georeferenced database with the design of a WebGIS interface that supports clear, intuitive, and user-friendly exploration.

Scholarly uses

The DANUBIUS WebGIS will open up new avenues for analysing the dynamics of Christianisation in the Danubian and Pontic regions. In particular, it will make it possible to:

examine the distribution and development of episcopal sees;
analyse networks of ecclesiastical actors and their mobility;
investigate the relationship between Christian presence and urban or territorial structures;
compare regional configurations within a diachronic framework.

By integrating spatial data with documentary corpora, the platform will contribute to renewing approaches to Christian topography and ecclesiastical history.

Current status and perspectives

The DANUBIUS project has resulted in the creation of a structured corpus of georeferenced data, combining epigraphic, archaeological, and prosopographical datasets, articulated with reference frameworks derived from textual sources. This work provides a robust foundation for the development of spatial exploration tools.

The WebGIS is now entering a phase of consolidation and further development, characterised by the progressive adaptation of the data to online visualisation and querying environments. A central challenge lies in reconciling the richness and complexity of a data model developed according to rigorous scholarly standards with the design of interfaces that enable fluid and accessible exploration.

In this context, development of the WebGIS will continue along an iterative trajectory, in connection with the tools and standards promoted by Chronocarto. This integration aims to enhance data interoperability, facilitate connections with other geohistorical datasets, and open up new perspectives for multi-scalar analysis.

Other DANUBIUS outputs available on Chronocarto

WebGIS focused on the site of Zaldapa and Atlas of episcopal sees