Dendroarchaeological evidence of early medieval water mill technology
Bernhard Muigg|Willy Tegel|Pascal Rohmer|U. Schmidt|Ulf Büntgen
The use of hydropower provides an important technical advancement over hand-operated grain mills, which steadily increased large parts Europe from the early Middle Ages onwards. Since written information on design medieval water mills is generally missing, archaeological evidence may provide unique insights into their evolution. Well-preserved wooden finds continental are, however, extremely rare. Here we present dendroarchaeological results exceptional number structural elements Audun-le-Tiche mill in northern France. Taxonomical identification, tree-ring dating and observations features a detailed picture milling technology as Carolingian period mid-9th century. A well-preserved waterwheel segment allows reconstruction undershot start-and-float wheel. Numerous paddles reveal technological evolution one-piece to composite forms. Placing our context other suggests rather uniform consruction within, though different beyond Frankish Empire. This study description that possibly contributed success agriculture well cultural economic growth
Journal of Archaeological Science