Layered carbonates in Roman aqueducts: a new archive for environmental studies and archaeology

• Applicant: Professor Cornelis Passchier, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Palaeontology ; Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry
• Term: from 2015 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 262362496

• Final Report Year: 2020

Final Report Abstract

Understanding our environment and the way it changes due to human and natural causes is crucial for the survival of humankind. Scientists have a responsibility to find new, unexplored sources that can shed light on past changes, and the reactions of society to such problems in the past. Environmental archives such as naturally forming layered carbonate deposits (tufa, travertine and speleothems) are a pivot in environmental studies since they record changes in climate and vegetation cover. Such archives are long time series, but they may have relatively low resolution, be absent in crucial areas and lack a direct link to ancient urban centers. In our study, we explored carbonate deposits (CaCO3) from Roman aqueducts in connection with civilization centers of the Roman Empire in France. We found that such carbonate deposits can give a wealth of information in archaeology, and additional data on environmental conditions during Roman time. Observations of carbonate from the Roman aqueducts of Cahors and Fréjus have shown, that environmental data are stored in such deposits, and that data on annual temperature, spring discharge (and indirectly precipitation) can be retrieved with an up to daily resolution. It is clear however, that aqueducts were a controlled environment, and that it is necessary to recognize and understand anthropogenic effects in the deposits before reliable environmental data can be retrieved. We therefore focused an important part our project time on the archaeological interpretation of the deposits, especially those of the roman aqueduct of Arles, and the Barbegal watermills fed by this aqueduct. The Barbegal mills were the first industrial complex in Europe, and we managed to obtain significant data on its operation and function, promoting the use of carbonate deposits to understand the use of ancient water systems. We obtained proof for cleaning operations of water systems where carbonate was removed; for temporary (months-long) close down of systems, which also showed that the mills were probably used to produce hard tack for local harbors, and not flour for a city; and we could reconstruct the hydraulics of gutters in the watermills that provided insight into some unique engineering solutions for this special pre-industrial complex.

Publications

• 2016. 230Th/U dating of carbonate deposits from ancient aqueducts. Quat. Geochronol. 32, 40-52
  Wenz S, Scholz D, Sürmelihindi G, Passchier C, Jochum K, Andreae M.
  
• 2016. A high-resolution palaeoenvironmental record from carbonate deposits in the Roman aqueduct of Patara, SW Turkey, from the time of Nero. Sci. Rep. 6, 28704
  Passchier C, Sürmelihindi G, Spötl C
  
• (2018) The 2nd century AD Roman Watermills of Barbegal: unravelling the enigma of one of the oldest industrial complexes. Science Advances 4, 9, eaar3620
  G. Sürmelihindi, Ph. Leveau, C. Spötl, V. Bernard, C. W. Passchier
  
• 2019. Barbegal: carbonate imprints give a voice to the first industrial complex of Europe, Journal of Archaeological Research: Reports 24, 1041-1058
  Sürmelihindi, G, Passchier, C. W., Leveau, Ph., Spötl, Ch., Bourgeois, M., Bernard, V.
  
• 2019. Les moulins de Barbegal, 80 ans après les fouilles de F. Benoit. L’apport de la géoarchéologie des carbonates. in : Djaoui, D., Heijmans, M (eds). Archeólogie et histoire en territoire arlésien. Mélanges offerts à Jean Piton. Archéologie et Histoire Romaine 42, 111-139
  Leveau, Ph, Passchier, C., Sürmelihindi, G.
  
• 2020. Giving voice to the incrustations from a Roman watermill complex at Barbegal: an impression. In: Bouffier, S, Fumado Ortega, I. L'eau dans tous ses états. Perceptions antiques, 161-174
  Sürmelihindi, G., Passchier, C., Leveau, Ph.
  
• 2020. Reconstructing the hydraulics of the world’s first industrial complex, the second century CE Barbegal watermills, France. Scientific reports 10:17917
  Passchier, C. W., Bourgeois, M., Viollet, P-L., Sürmelihindi, G., Bernard, V., Leveau, Ph., Spötl, Ch.
  
• 2021. The aqueduct of Gerasa –Intra-annual palaeoenvironmental data from Roman Jordan using carbonate deposits. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 562, 110089
  Passchier, C. W., Sürmelihindi, G., Boyer, B., Yalçın, C., Spötl, Ch., Mertz-Kraus, R.