Floodplains are highly valuable, but highly endangered ecosystems. Restoration programs need to carefully consider their multifunctionality, ecological value and the provision of ecosystem services. The example of the Danube River illustrates the impacts of various restoration measures.

This study presents the results of a comprehensive geoarchaeological study implemented at an archeological site covering ca. 5 ha near the city of Csorna on the NW part of the Danube Plain, NW Hungary. The site itself exposed a complex fluvial system of an ice age creek with near bank and overbank areas (levee, point bar, back swamp). Spatial distribution of archeological features allowed for the interpretation of differential use of the fluvial landscape by different cultures. According to our data, the referred fluvial system must have emerged during the Late Glacial. At this time, creeks originating from hills to the SE followed a uniform NW trajectory. From the Holocene, small creeks were beheaded turning into inactive flood channels. It was the time when the gradual infilling of the floodplain started. Alternating layers of floodwater coarses and floodplain fines mark recurring floods at our site. These could have been correlated with cooler, wetter climatic phases of the North Atlantic, Western Europe and high stands in Central European lakes. Highest floods are recorded during the Late Bronze and Iron Ages besides the Neolithic. Pollen data enabled us to make inferences on the vegetation as well.

In December 1939 the Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess performed the ground-breaking ceremony for the Oder-Danube Canal, with Austria, Poland and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia already under German control,. Besides connecting the Oder and the Danube, resulting in a nonstop waterway from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, spatial planning authorities, he saw the canal as a fundamental addition for the ‘second Ruhr valley in the East’ (Upper Silesia). The outcome of this connection would have been a widely expanded trade between northern and southern Europe. The trade might become then faster and cheaper, a wide array of strategic materials like coal, ore, petroleum and petrol would have been accessible for industry and armed forces. Due to the war progress the work on the canal had to be discontinued in 1940. One of the profiteers of the canal should have been the seaport in Szczecin, located at the intersection of the Oder and the Baltic Sea. Therefore a think tank called the ‘Oder-Donau-Institut’ has been found to deliver scientific arguments reinstating the work on the canal under the lead management of the economic chamber of Pomerania (Szczecin) in close contact with the University of Greifswald. The director of the institute was Heinz Seraphim, professor for political economy at the University of Greifswald. Under his leadership, the well-financed institute started to work not only for the economic interests of the economic chamber but also for the SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt.

An Arpadian age (10th–11th c.) burial ground was unearthed on the plateau of Oberleiserberg along with features and findings from several other periods. It was first discovered during the excavation led by Herbert Mitscha-Märheim and Ernst Nischer-Falkenhof in the 1920s and 30s. In the 1970s and 80s the site was archaeologically investigated by Herwig Friesinger and his team. During these archaeological campaigns 71 additional graves were found. The multidisciplinary analyses of the medieval findings and features as well as the human remains unearthed on Oberleiserberg are part of the international project Frontier, Contact Zone or No Man’s Land — The Morava- Thaya Region from the Early to the High Medieval Ages (I 1911 G21, led by Stefan Eichert and Jiří Macháček funded by FWF (Austrian Science Fund) and GAČR (Czech Science Foundation). The early and high medieval findings indicate contact of the entombed population with nonnative peoples, possibly reaching as far as the Baltic Sea. Anthropological analysis of the excavated skeletons shows us more about the everyday life of the people buried here and together with isotopic analysis of the human remains, conclusions about their living conditions are possible.

The present contribution considers the Pannonian ‘inner fortifications’ in the context of the development of the infrastructure and urban fabric of selected sites on the Lower Danube. Using Sándor Sopronis’ thesis, which postulates that a multiple defensive system gradually expanded in Pannonia after the time of the Tetrarchy, as a starting point, this study concentrates on the inner fortifications founded in the middle third of the 4th century AD in the hinterland of the Limes (Környe, Tác / Gorsium, Keszthely-Fenékpuszta and Alsóheténypuszta) which, together with towns such as Sopianae, Mursa, Cibalae, Sirmium und Bassianae, constituted an inner line of defence. Whether they functioned in a civil or purely military context is a subject that has been, and still is, much debated. However, they appear to have played a significant role in the storage, distribution, and perhaps production, of the annona. A similar situation can be observed on the Lower Danube, in the provinces of Dacia Ripensis, Moesia Prima and Scythia. Here too a series of castra and towns, which took on similar functions in the course of the 4th century AD, are found some 30 to 50 km from the frontier. This area however saw a further development well into the late 6th century AD: several sites continued to play a central role as the sees of bishoprics in the Early Byzantine Period. The examples of Abritus and Tropaeum Traiani, which both possess elements that are strikingly similar to the Pannonian establishments, are used here to gain insights into the processes at work and to discuss the structural parallels comparatively.

The aim of this article is to evaluate the quality of the Danube River in its course through Serbia as well as to demonstrate the possibilities for using three statistical methods: Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Factor Analysis (FA) and Cluster Analysis (CA) in the surface water quality management. Given that the Danube is an important trans-boundary river, thorough water quality monitoring by sampling at different distances during shorter and longer periods of time is not only ecological, but also a political issue. Monitoring was carried out at monthly intervals from January to December 2011, at 17 sampling sites. The obtained data set was treated by multivariate techniques in order, firstly, to identify the similarities and differences between sampling periods and locations, secondly, to recognize variables that affect the temporal and spatial water quality changes and thirdly, to present the anthropogenic impact on water quality parameters.

The article presents two floating architectural structures developed in response to the needs of local communities. The first one – a river barge “Louise-Catherine” – was adapted in 1929 according to the design of Le Corbusier, one of the most influential architects of the first half of the 20th century, for the purposes of Salvation Army shelter docked on the Seine in Paris and it continued its operation as such until 1994. The second one – Bertha von Suttner state junior high school – was developed in a shipyard to serve as a school, which purpose it has been fulfilling since 1994 while moored on the Danube River in Vienna. The author’s intention was to describe both structures while highlighting common features as well as differences, and to analyse them in view of certain selected aspects. The background for the projects’ development was described account taken of different reasons and circumstances. Issues under analysis include decision making processes in terms of architectural programme, functions and spatial developments. The analysis also includes technical aspects such as structural developments, material and infrastructure – in terms of the floating Viennese school – account taken on safety of using a barge as a school establishment. A separate part of the article is dedicated to the issue of social reception, and incase of the former Salvation Army shelter – actions aimed at the protection of a historic structure.