Medieval Hydrotechnology: an interdisciplinary case-study of water management in the historical and physical landscape of Messinia, South Greece

Project Information

HYDROMEDIE

Grant agreement ID: 892163

DOI

10.3030/892163

Project closed

EC signature date 22 October 2020

Start date 12 July 2021

End date 11 July 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 224 933,76

EU contribution

€ 224 933,76

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HYDROMEDIE (Medieval Hydrotechnology: an interdisciplinary case-study of water management in the historical and physical landscape of Messinia, South Greece)

Reporting period: 2021-07-12 to 2023-07-11

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The implementation of the Hydromedie project allowed for the examination of the strategies used for water management in rural societies of medieval and post-medieval pasts in southern Greece that were previously disregarded or inadequately studied. Selected water collection and storage structures (cisterns, channels, terraces) in various landscape settings (countryside, village settlement, gorges) were investigated through fieldwork and with cutting-edge digital tools in an interdisciplinary approach. Among the main objectives achieved were a) the thorough documentation and the precise dating of the structures, their function and operation, and b) the understanding of how the regional landscape and the available resources were exploited to provide water, the most valuable resource for subsistence. Thus, an innovative methodological model has been established for studying water-related structures and hydraulic complexes in broader geographical and cultural contexts.
Beyond the scientific scope of the project, one of its aims is to engage local communities in their hydraulic heritage and how they could potentially make re-use of traditional technical and mechanical waterways. This goal becomes even more critically important considering the effects of climate change and extended environmental damage that the areas under study experience.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Almost all objectives of the project are achieved through training of the fellow, fieldwork missions, work performed at the labs and secondment, academic and non-academic/public dissemination of the results. In particular, the fellow was trained in modern methodologies (GIS, HLC, OSL-PD, digital survey) that provided thorough documentation and precise dating. Academic dissemination was delivered through talks in conferences and relevant papers in volumes while the results of the main data processed are in preparation for publication. Non-academic/public actions involve the creation of a dedicated website hydromedie.com the implementation of an educational program addressed to high school students, the planning of a digital platform for documenting hydraulic structures for the use of archaeologist colleagues at the Greek Ministry of Culture, and the engagement of local communities into the preservation and potential re-use of their hydraulic heritage.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The implementation of the project Hydromedie and the expert training offered by Newcastle University to the fellow established a pioneering methodology that was not yet widely applied in historical and archaeological water-management studies, especially in Greece. The research also encompassed the wider context allowing for consideration of values not previously taken into consideration such as the landscape effect, the availability of environmental resources, and ecological standards. After the publication of the processed data and the broader academic dissemination of the research, the results will not only constitute a fundamental contribution to the medieval/post-medieval archaeology of Greece but also provide the platform for similar future approaches. On a socio-economic level, the interest of scholars but also of local communities in old systems of water provision and storage will be increased. Long-term outcomes of the project are therefore anticipated to include further research on more sustainable environmental resource exploitation and potentially the partial re-use of some abandoned hydraulic constructions.

A complex of semi-underground, open and barrel vaulted cisterns in the village of Pyrgos, messinian