Human Life

A Glimpse on Human Life in the Danube Delta along History

Most of the remaining ancient settlements in the Danube Delta are now small fishing villages with some 15,000 inhabitants and a community life based on traditional activities like fishing, small agriculture, animal breeding, and reed harvesting in winter.

Human life in the Danube Delta can be traced back to prehistoric times as evinced for instance by the Neolithic culture of the Hamangia type (5000-3000 B.C.) represented by clay statuettes like the Thinker or Woman Sitting. The Princely treasure found in a tomb at Agighiol, the wealthy necropolises at Murighiol and Enisala, the remnants of a refuge fortress at Destepe are tokens of the Geto-Dacian civilization.

In the Danube Delta historians or those fond of history and art may find many traces of Roman, Greek and Byzantine culture and civilization in settlements like Chilia Veche, Enisala, Tulcea, Histria, Sulina, Babadag etc.

The Danube Delta has a particular rural civilization made by acculturation between Romanians and other ethnic groups i.e. Bulgarians, Ukrainians, Lipovans as well as by a mixture of Romanians from Dobrudja with people come from other Romanian speaking provinces, i.e. Moldavians, Transylvanian shepherds, highlanders.

The different groups would respect each other's customs, traditions, religion and lifestyles, but would also influence and interact with one another. For instance, whether a Romanian, a Bulgarian, a Ukrainian or a Lipovan house, most of them (80%) would look alike, with roofs made of reed, three rooms and a porch added to the living-room and to the hall.

The influence of Slavic populations over the Romanian dwelling organisation is reflected by a particular element inside the house, namely the so called lijanca, a kind of bed made of earth placed near the stove which keeps warm during the winter time due to its clever design and engineering.

For the Danube Delta's visitors come for a unique life experience, its traditional cuisine based on fish products like fish borsch, spitted fish, brine pickle of fish with garlic dressing, fish meat balls "sprinkled" with the finest wines of the region, i.e. Niculitel can be an unforgettable delight.