Long-term urbanised deltas

This research theme aims a better understanding of the interactions between urban systems and deltaic environments over time. Today, urbanised deltas are amongst the most vulnerable areas to climate change, while these same deltaic environments saw the emergence of the first urban civilisations more than 5000 years ago. We aim to identify the risks associated with past deltaic environments and to identify the adaptation strategies developped by ancient urban societies.

This research involves interdisciplinary studies involving researchers in geoarchaeology, geohistory, geomorphology, human geography and geomatics from the Laboratoire Image, Ville Environment (UMR-7362), a joint research unit between the University of Strasbourg and the CNRS. This work is carried out in collaboration with researchers of different disciplines and institutions from across the world.

• (1) To reconstruct deltaic and river mouth dynamics during the Holocene;
• (2) To seek evidences to better understand the emergence and evolution of urbanisation in deltas;
• (3) To identify the resilience and adaptative strategies of deltaic cities through time;
• (4) To draw temporal trajectories: past, present and future of urbanised deltas.

• 2025-2029 : ROMRIVERS - « Sustainability of Roman fluvial structures: conception, operability, maintenance and risks ». Funded by: ANR. Project coordinators: Dr. Ferréol Salomon (CNRS - LIVE UMR-7362), Prof. Corinne Rousse (Aix-Marseille Université - CCJ UMR-7299), Dr. Marguerite Ronin (CNRS, ARSCAN UMR-7041), and Dr. Léo Guiot de la Rochère (ENGEES).

• 2025-2028 : PortGEN - « The Ancient Ports of Europe: A Novel Genetic Window on Ancient Lives ». Funded by: Leverhulme Trust. Project coordinator: Prof. Tony Brown (University of Southamton).

• 2023-2025 : ODVI– « Waters of Life. Fluvial dynamics and resource exploitation at Chanhu-daro in the 3rd millennium BCE (Indus Basin, Pakistan)». Funded by: ENGIE Foundation. Project coordinators: Dr. Margareta Tengberg and Dr. Marjan Mashkour (Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, UMR-7209).

• 2022-2024 : AdaptiCity – « Spina and Comacchio: Which adaptations to the risks of subsidence and submergence in the long term? (Po delta, Italy) ». Funded by: IdEx Exploratoire – Université de Strasbourg/CNRS. Project coordinator: Dr. Ferréol Salomon; Collaborations: Università di Bologna, Università di Padova and Università Ca'Foscari of Venice.

• 2020- … : EOS – « Etruscans on the Sea ».Fundings: Università di Bologna. Coordinators: Prof. Andrea Gaucci and Prof. Elisabetta Govi (Università di Bologna).

• 2022-2025 : LIXVS-GARVM – Funded by: Universidad de Cádiz.  Project coordinators: Prof. Darío Bernal-Casasola (Universidad de Cádiz) and Prof. Mohamed Kbiri Alaoui (Institut National des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine - INSAP).

• 2022-2025 : EOR – « Early Ostia Revisited ». Funded by: FNRS (Belgium). Project coordinators: Prof. Thomas Morard and Prof. Françoise van Haeperen (Université de Liège).

• 2021-2023 : AMEr – « Archaeological Mission at Eridu ». Funded by: Università La Sapienza and Université de Strasbourg - Project coordinators: Prof. Franco d'Agostino (Universtà La Sapienza, Roma) and Prof. Philippe Quenet (Université de Strasbourg).

• 2020-2022 : FosPhora – « Fos-Ostie-Portus: Harbours of Roman Antiquity ». Funded by: A*Midex– Université Aix-Marseille. Project coordinator: Dr. Marie-Brigitte Carre (CNRS, Centre Camille Jullian, UMR 7299).

• 2019-2021 : CadiX-Y-Z – « Reconstuction of the palaeotopography and history of Cadiz through its sedimentary archives ». Funded by: Post-Doc IdEx Attractivité (CNRS LIVE UMR 7362 / Université de Cádiz). Project coordinators: Dr. Ferréol Salomon / In collaboration with Prof. Darío Bernal (Universidad de Cádiz).

• 2014-2019 : PortusLimen Project – « Rome Mediterranean Ports - RoMP ». Funded by: ERC. Project coordinators: Prof. Simon Keay (University of Southampton) and Prof. Pascal Arnaud (Université Lyon 2).

GEOORPHOLOGY OF RIVER DELTAS

• Juncker, J., Salomon, F., Gaucci, A., Mozzi, P., Zampieri, E., Ladouce-Godier, S., Schmitt, L., 2026. Chrono-spatial modelling of deltaic progradation: timing the evolution of the Po delta Spina lobe (ca. 750 BCE–700 CE). Quaternary Science Reviews 388: 110057. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.110057
• Vittori, C., Carbonel, P., Mazzini, I., Salomon, F., Goiran, J.-P., Pannuzi, S., Cocquyt, J., Gonçalves, C., Rosa, C., Schmitt, L., 2026. Salinity Transition in the Ostia Lagoon During the Roman Period: Assessing the Feasibility of Salt Exploitation. Geoarchaeology 44, 1: e70038. https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.70038
• Salomon, F., Vittori, C., Noirot, B., Pleuger, E., Rosa, C., Mazzini, I., Carbonel, P., Djerbi, H., Bellotti, P., Goiran, J.-P., 2020. Reconstruction of the Tiber Deltaic stratigraphic successions near Ostia using the PADM chart and tracking of the bedload-derived facies (Rome, Italy). Geomorphology 365, 107227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2020.107227

URBANISED RIVER DELTAS

• Sarrau, J., Salomon, F., 2025. Morphometric analyses of a deltaic strandplain inferred from LiDAR data and old maps: A contribution to the coastal risk mapping of the Tiber Delta (Italy). Journal of Geographical Sciences 35, 2229–2247. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-025-2410-8
• Salomon, F., P. Terrado Ortuño, P.-A. Herrault, K. Fujiki, O. Finance, A. Lasheras González, J.-M. Macias-Solé, A. de Graauw K. Strutt, S. Keay, 2024, Reconstructing the plurisecular trajectory of an exemplary hybrid urban delta (Tarragona-Francolí system, Spain): Towards the end of a delta? Geomorphology 462: 109344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2024.109344.
• Salomon, F., A. Lasheras González, P. Terrado Ortuño, J.-M. Macias-Solé, K. Strutt, P.-A. Herrault, P.R. Morgan, S. Keay, 2024, Challenging reconstruction of the plurimillennial morphodynamics of hybrid urban deltas: Trajectory from a wave-dominated delta to a human-dominated delta in the Western Mediterranean area. Geomorphology 455: 109178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2024.109178

DELTAIC CITIES

• Quenet, P., D'Agostino, F., Rendu Loisel, A.-C., Galluser, F., Jotheri, J., Koerin, C., Makinson, M., Rambeau, C., Salomon, F., 2025. Archaeological mission at Eridu: The 2022 campaign of the University of Strasbourg at Abu Sharayn. Preliminary report Part 1: Off-site Studies and Site 1, the E-abzu monumental complex reconsidered. IRAQ 87,: 263-312. https://doi.org/10.1017/irq.2025.10035

• Salomon, F., Strutt, K., Mladenović, D., Goiran, J.-P., Keay S., 2023. Management of fluvio-coastal dynamics in the Tiber delta during the Roman period: Using an integrated waterways system to cope with environmental challenges at Ostia and Portus. Water History 15, 1. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12685-023-00324-3

• Salomon, F., Bernal Casasola, D., Díaz, J.J., Lara  Medina, M., Domínguez-Bella, S., Ertlen, D., Wassmer, P., Adam, P., Schaeffer, P., Hardion, L., Vittori, C., Chapkanski, S., Delile, H., Schmitt, L., Preusser, F., Trautmann, M., Masi, A., Vignola, C., Sadori, L., Morales, J., Vidal Matutano, P., Robin, V., Keller, B., Sanchez Bellón, Á., Martínez López, J., Rixhon, G., 2020. High-resolution late Holocene sedimentary cores record the long history of the city of Cádiz (south-western Spain). Scientific Drilling 8, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-27-35-2020
• Salomon, F., Goiran, J.-P., Noirot, B., Pleuger, E., Bukowiecki, E., Mazzini, I., Carbonel, P., Gadhoum, A., Arnaud, P., Keay, S., Zampini, S., Kay, S., Raddi, M., Ghelli, A., Pellegrino, A., Morelli, C., Germoni, P., 2018. Geoarchaeology of the Roman port-city of Ostia: Fluvio-coastal mobility, urban development and resilience. Earth-Science Reviews 177, 265–283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.10.003

ANCIENT HARBOURS

• Goiran, J.-Ph., Chan W.M., Benech C., Vitale Q., Riddick N., Delile H., Salomon F., Chapkanski S., Oberlin C., Brocard G., Lisé-Pronovost A., Vittori C., 2022, « Developments in Geoarchaeological Research, Methodologies and Applications in Harbour Maritime Archaeology » Byzanz zwischen Orient und Okzident, Band 21: 109‑129. https://doi.org/10.11588/propylaeum.910.c12051.
• Bernal-Casasola, D., Salomon, F., Díaz, J.J., Lara, M., Rixhon, G., Morales, J., Vidal Matutano, P., 2020. Deeper Than Expected: The Finding of a Remarkable Ancient Harbour at Gadir/Gades and an Exceptional Sedimentary Archive (Cádiz, Southern Spain). Journal of Maritime Archaeology 15, 165–183. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-020-09258-w
• Salomon, F., Keay, S., Carayon, N., Goiran, J.-P., 2016. The Development and Characteristics of Ancient Harbours—Applying the PADM Chart to the Case Studies of Ostia and Portus. PLOS ONE 11, e0162587. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0162587

ANCIENT NAVIGABLE CANALS

• Juncker, J., Salomon, F., Rousse, C., Skupinski, G., Quesnel, Y., Uehara, M., Codjo, I., Carayon, N., Devillers, B., Vella, C., 2025. Geoarchaeological evidence of a buried navigable Roman canal in the Rhône delta (France): The Marius canal hypothesis. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 63, 105078. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2025.105034
• Salomon, F., Rousse C., 2022. Navigable canals in deltaic environments during the Roman period: deciphering location patterns ». In Ports Romans. Arqueologia dels sistemes portuaris, by Ada Lasheras González, Joaquín Ruiz de Arbulo, Patricia Terrado Ortuño. Tarraco Biennal - 5e Congrès Internacional d’Arqueologia i Mon Antic - 24-27/11/2021. Tarragona, p. 173‑195. https://hal.science/hal-03869453/document
• Salomon, F., Lebrun-Nesteroff, L., Goiran, J.-P., Boetto, G., Arnoldus-Huyzendveld†, A., Germoni, P., Ghelli, A., Mazzini, I., Vittori, C., Zampini, S., Keay, S., 2020. The Portus to Ostia Canal, in: The Isola Sacra Survey: Ostia, Portus and the Port System of Imperial Rome. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge, pp. 123–145. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.55285
• Salomon, F., Goiran, J.-P., Bravard, J.-P., Arnaud, P., Djerbi, H., Kay, S., Keay, S., 2014. A harbour–canal at Portus: a geoarchaeological approach to the Canale Romano: Tiber delta, Italy. Water History 6, 31–49. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12685-014-0099-1