THE LOST (�R FORGOTTEN) ISLANDS OF THE WESTERN BLACK SEA

Abstract

In the restoration of the historical and geographical conditions of today's Bulgarian lands, historical sources and documents of different origin, character and purpose come into use. The lack of sufficiently complete and accurate information about the development and dynamics of coastal archaeological landscapes in the narrative source material enhances the importance of medieval and renaissance maps of the Black Sea basin, which are an invaluable source of information. The combination of this information, together with the acquired archeological finds and the data from coastal and underwater geomorphological research, with great scientific reliability can restore the ancient appearance of certain objects. The study examined a large number of medieval and renaissance maps representing the port system on the Western Black Sea coast. The images of islands that do not exist today make a vivid impression. In order to be depicted on the navigational charts, it is obvious that they were important to the sailors of that time (hiding places, reef dangers, etc.). In the analysis of the old maps with the modern bathymetric map, as well as the conducted sea research, it was established that the locations of the depicted islands coincide with the places of modern rocky banks. The article offers options for their origin.