Barbegal mill complex
Complejo de molinos hidráulicos de Barbegal
- Date
- century II (discutido) · confidence medium
- Place
- Barbegal, Fontvieille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France
- Credited to
- Roman engineering in Gaul
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A set of sixteen vertical waterwheels arranged in two staggered rows down a slope fed by an aqueduct. It is the largest known concentration of mechanical power in antiquity, perhaps meant to supply flour to Arles.
Dating ranges from the 2nd to the 4th century depending on the study (Leveau, Sellin); its function is also debated and it is not agreed that it was solely for grinding wheat.
What it led to
- industrial-scale milling for a city
- a model for using a waterfall in cascade
- the idea of a factory with centralised water power