The damming of rivers: Overloads to make the earth tremble
Abstract
Whereas the traces of many monuments and palaces have disappeared forever it is relatively easy to find signs of ancient attempts to dam the flow of rivers in order to tame their excesses or, even more important, to bring fertility to arid lands. Despite the dangers and difficulties of such earthworks, a great many of them were built in the Mediterranean basin in Preroman and Roman times, as we can see from the map compiled by N. J. Schnitter ( Figure 67 ).
Fields of Study & Subjects
Water management and technologies
Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History
Archaeology and Natural History
Publication details
- Journal / source
- CRC Press eBooks
- Pages
- 79–84
- Publication date
- 19 January 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter