Print of Thomas Liebert, Technik des frühen Mittelalters. Wassermühlen und sonstige Wasserbauwerke im fränkisch-bajuwarischen Grenzgebiet bei Greding, Mittelfranken

• Applicant: Dr. Thomas Liebert
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: Funded in 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 274038790

The construction of the high-speed line Nürnberg-Ingolstadt, Bavaria, made possible large scale archaeological excavations in the years 1995-2001. Three archaeological sites in the Schwarzach-Valley next to Großhöbing unearthed waterlogged features and findings, including around 3200 early medieval timber logs. One site revealed a ship landing place, first dated in the early 9th century and often remodelled. On the two other sites the remains of ten watermills were discovered, succeeding one another during 6th to 9th century. It also included structures of mill dams, ponds and channels. Remains of mill structures from 10 th, 11th and 12th century were found at the same dig. These discoveries of hydraulic systems and technics show the high standard of milling technology in early medieval times.The unearthed features demonstrate at the same time first ecological problems in the valley arising due to human use of resources. The parallelism of construction phases on both excavation sites might be caused by periodical floods which made it necessary to rebuild the structures.Through linking the ceramic finds of early medieval times with the construction phases it was possible to gain dendrochronologicaly based datings for them.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants