The
continental part of Dobroudja, as well as its Black sea coastal area are
comparatively dry in comparison to the rest of Bulgaria. In the dry valleys
there are currents only at abundant rainfalls or intensive thawing of snows. The
Dobroudja coast has sharp temperature amplitudes (variations from -1 to 23o
C) and low precipitation (430 - 480 mm), which increases with the distance from
the sea.
The
early Holocene vegetation is now destroyed or modified due to the millennial
human activities. Scarce spots of it are preserved only in isolated areas. The
paleobotanic studies of the lagoons in Shabla and Durankulak carried out in
recent years allowed to approximately reconstruct the variability of plant
species in the southern part of Dobroudja. They provide the possibility to
restore a part of the general paleoecology in the region of the north-western
Black sea coast from the beginning of the Holocene till modern times. It is
interesting to note the presence of the wild steppe ass (Equus /Hemionus/ hydruntinus
danubiensis) in Dobroudja during the Neolithic. Remains from this
glacial species have been excavated in large amounts at Durankulak, Tekirgoel,
Cherna voda and other archaeological sites. Some wild and domesticated animal
species have also been discovered helping to complete the total ecological
picture; these are as follows:
a)
domesticated species: cattle, swine,
sheep, goat and dog;
b)
wild species: red deer, roe, wild boar,
wild horse, wild steppe ass, rabbit, badger, wolf, traces of birds, turtle and
fish. There is also some evidence for the presence of lion, beaver and bear,
though in smaller percentage.
The
general conclusion is that only in the second half of the 4th
millennium B.C. there already existed a suitable, although not very comfortable
environment for exploitation by neolithisation tribes. This circumstance
retarded the permanent settlement of the Neolithic man in these regions with over
half a millennium.
<<
