Recherche par auteur > Spain Robert

The scope of using waterwheels in Roman times still involves challenging questions. They were used for irrigation, the process of ore, the production of flour, and to cut wood or stone. The impact of such activities is a crucial element within the debate on the nature of the Roman economy, between the primitivist and modernist perceptions. Our research deals with the evidence from La Corta, on the Guadalete River (province of Cádiz, in southern Spain). Here, archaeological excavation revealed the remains of different watermills dating from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age. These watermills were placed on a platform with cutwaters and canals, where water was conducted through a weir. Based on constructive characteristics of the vestiges, particularly on identifying opus caementicium as a building material, a Roman origin has been proposed for this emplacement. Sections of different walls and vestiges of a vault have been interpreted as remains of two Roman mills. Stepped structures supported the walls on the downstream side of the platform. This structure type is associated with waterwheels in mosaics from the Syrian city of Apamea, dating from the 4th century AD. Beyond these and other pieces of evidence, difficulties in verifying the Roman origin of this watermill complex are related to the high level of the water table, which limited the depth reached by the archaeological excavation, and the continuity of the exploitation of this riparian space, with anthropic removals of sediments added to the effects of river dynamics. In that sense, the lack of dating archaeological contexts is a condition that can be expected in similar sites. In other words, even when surviving the abovementioned dynamics, this type of infrastructure rarely could be adequately identified. Therefore, we can pose another relevant question on the scope of using rivers as a permanent powerful force by Roman hydraulic engineering. These circumstances encourage us to prosecute the investigation on the study case of La Corta. Proposed lines of research consider possibilities such as the comparative analyses of structures, the use of different techniques for dating building materials, or the identification of parallel cases according to the geomorphological features of La Corta.