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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Inland harbours : First results and perspectives of the project Inland harbours in Central Europe on the French territory

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Inland harbours, essential links between the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, are the object of the Priority Program Studies of inland harbours in Central Europe as hubs for European communication networks, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). Since 2016, the project has also focused on the French inland river network, in association with the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena (Germany) and the University of Burgundy (Dijon, France).Inland harbours can be perceived as multifaceted phenomena, based on comparative, diachronic, multidisciplinary analyses. The modes of harbour installation and the socio-economic processes are examined here, together with the management of waterways and the conditions for navigability, from the 1st century BC to the 15th century AD. The French GIS dataset was compiled to fit the existing database structure, which already contains data for Germany, Benelux, and Northern Italy. Although data distribution for France is still patchy, at this state of the project, our dataset can already be useful for many spatial and / or quantitative analyses. This paper therefore proposes, first, a critical overview of the database, and then a discussion of the type of analyses that can accommodate heterogeneous data. Various methods, including network analysis (Strahler order), and pattern analysis (focusing on the rhythm of appearance and abandonment of harbours), are used to examine the harbour phenomenon within the broader context of historical river uses, competing riverine activities, and reaction to climatic changes.