Any: 2019 Núm. extra: 4
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- ItemOpen AccessA brief overview of archaeological research on ancient mills and miling in Spain(Universitat de Lleida. Departament d'Història. Secció d'Arqueologia, Prehistòria i Història Antiga, 2019) Alonso, Natàlia; Anderson, Timothy J.This article presents a brief review of the history of research on archaeological mills and milling in the Iberian Peninsula. As elsewhere in Europe, molinological research began discretely in the 18th century. Early work was carried out by prestigious researchers including the Siret brothers, P. Bosch Gimpera and V. G. Childe. The seminal article by this last scholar, based on the research of Bosch Gimpera, introduced the notion which still stands today of a Western Mediterranean origin for the rotary mill. Another molinological milestone in Iberia was this research carried out by F . de Avilés, then director of the National Museum of Archaeology at Madrid. The findings of his vast data base in the form of a questionnaire sent out different archaeological institutions throughout the Peninsula, alas, remained incomplete and unpublished until it was presented by L. Berrocal more than a half century later. The turn of the millennium has seen a renewed interest on the subject as evidenced by six doctoral dissertations exploring different molinological aspects.
- ItemOpen AccessCrossing the bridge: Notes on development of the rynd(Universitat de Lleida. Departament d'Història. Secció d'Arqueologia, Prehistòria i Història Antiga, 2019) Watts, MartinThe mill rynd or bridge is probably the most important fitting in a corn mill: it carries the upper millstone on the head of the spindle and enables it to be turned by the machinery of the mill. Although it is therefore an essential component of milling technology, its development has received little attention or analysis. This paper considers the development of the rynd from the earliest power-driven millstones in the Roman period through to the introduction of sophisticated forms in the late 18th and early-mid 19th centuries. This development is witnessed not only in the physical survival of mill rynds themselves but also in the negative information found in the shapes of the recesses which were cut in the faces of millstones to locate them. A range of sources, including depictions of rynds in medieval wall paintings and their use as heraldic charges, is also explored.
- ItemOpen AccessRoman grinding stones from Northern Britain with two opposed perforations(Universitat de Lleida. Departament d'Història. Secció d'Arqueologia, Prehistòria i Història Antiga, 2019) Cruse, JohnTwo different designs are considered. The first, a rotary hand quern with characteristic D-shaped hoppers, is described and its links to the Earlier Roman military supply system are explored. The second is a powered millstone, but without hoppers, mainly from later Roman contexts. Evidence that its opposed perforations were twin feed-pipes is reviewed and its distribution along Roman roads, near good agricultural land is examined. Whilst earlier hand querns with twin feed-pipes are known in the Rhineland, the design appears to evolve independently in northern Britain. Suggestions are made for naming the two hand quern variants. Comparable millstones are also reported in Germany. As more examples of both designs are recognised, their study could improve our understanding of the Earlier Roman military support system and of aspects of later Roman economic activity.
- ItemOpen AccessA 13th-century hydraulic ore mill at the mining site of Brandes (Isère), France(Universitat de Lleida. Departament d'Història. Secció d'Arqueologia, Prehistòria i Història Antiga, 2019) Minvielle-Larousse, NicolasThis paper presents the results of the excavation of an ore grinding watermill brought to light in Sector B 121 of the industrial quarter of the mining town of Brandes (Isère, France). The mill, dated by dendrochronology the 13th century AD, was driven with water channelled from the Font-Morelle spring. The head-race and spillway are examples of the opportunistic reuse of earlier anthropic (canal and mining trench) or natural (faults and karsts) features. The tail-race was not totally excavated. The mill-house (drywall and timber construction) is poorly conserved and the millstone driving mechanisms are difficult to interpret. A series of features suggest the use of a horizontal water wheel driven counterclockwise by a jet of water guided through a flume. A large number of millstone fragments and flakes were studied in a previous article.
- ItemOpen AccessThe quern and millstone quarries of Bibracte and Autun: The case of Saint-Andeux (CÙte-díOr, Burgondy, France)(Universitat de Lleida. Departament d'Història. Secció d'Arqueologia, Prehistòria i Història Antiga, 2019) Jaccottey, Luc; Farget, Virginie; Fronteau, Gilles; Beuchot, Sylvain; Boyer, François; Cherot, CoralieThe millstone research carried out at the oppidum of Bibracte has recently been bolstered by finds deriving from preventive archaeology carried out at the Roman city of Autun. A new phase of this research has focused on the quern and millstone quarries supplying the two centres. Among the quarries is the vast vaugnerite outcrop of Bois de Joux at Saint-Andeux (Côte-d’Or). Field surveys identified two sectors producing mostly rotary querns dating to the Late Iron Age and Antiquity. Examining the roughouts renders it possible to reconstruct the operational sequence of their manufacture while the study of the quarries offers data to distinguish the Late Iron Age from the Roman quarries and identify their sequences of production.