Ancient wells

The article treats ancient wells in the Kerameikos excavation. It presents an overview over the fist results compiled during the ongoing water management project. The figures contain a complete map of all the wells on the site and drawings of various well types, curb stones and drawing mechanisms.

Ancient Athenians mainly used wells for the production of drinking water. The wells and cisterns in the Kerameikos have been studied over the last years in an effort to document and plot them on the site plan, while several individual wells and cisterns haven been excavated completely. This documentation - which is presented at the conference - provides a so far unique insight into building techniques, types, chronology and function of the Athenian wells and cisterns.

Recent studies indicate that motillas (Chalcolithic and Bronze Age settlements in
La Mancha, Spain) could have been the most ancient groundwater collection system at regional scale in Europe. There are catalogued only 32 motillas in La Mancha natural region.
The Motilla of El Azuer, in Daimiel (Ciudad Real, Spain) is the most thoroughly studied from the archaeological point of view and it has been established that it was occupied for almost a millennium, 2200-1350 cal. BC. It is a unique example in the Bronze Age in relation to the construction of an old well of about 18 m depth.
We present here the first hydrogeoarchaeological study at regional level. The research includes boreholes drilling, geophysical techniques and hydrogeological analysis of the territory. The resulting data confirm a relationship between the hydrology and the spatial distribution of the motillas, sited where groundwater was accessible by means of prehistoric technology. They were built during the 4.2 ka cal BP event in a time of environmental stress after a period of severe and prolonged drought. In these environmental conditions, the construction of these wells was a successful solution that lived on for nearly a millennium and played a major part in the processes of change towards a more complex society.