Canals

Back cover text: Real Social Science presents a new, hands-on approach to social inquiry. The theoretical and methodological ideas behind the book, inspired by Aristotelian phronesis, represent an original perspective within the social sciences, and this volume gives readers for the first time a set of studies exemplifying what applied phronesis looks like in practice. The reflexive analysis of values and power gives new meaning to the impact of research on policy and practice. Real Social Science is a major step forward in a novel and thriving field of research. This book will benefit scholars, researchers, and students who want to make a difference in practice, not just in the academy. Its message will make it essential reading for students and academics across the social sciences.

Navigable canals are a rare exception in the Early Middle Ages, although ships were important means of transport. The Fossa Carolina is the most important exception and an outstanding example of Early Medieval hydrological engineering. It is located at the Central European Watershed between Rhine and Danube. Charlemagne decided to link both river systems in 793 AD. Despite the importance of the project it is not clarified if it was finished. The paper presents selected aspects and new results of a current research project towards the Fossa Carolina.

SECTOR 1
LOS ENCLAVES ARQUEOLÓGICOS Y PALEONTOLÓGICOS EN LA TRAZA DEL AVE.
TRAMO: ATOCHA-GETAFE.
CAPITULO 1
– Los enclaves paleontológicos en la traza del AVE EN EL ENTORNO SUR DE MADRID.
Tramo: Atocha – Getafe. Hallazgos Paleontológicos.
Micropaleontología en los proyectos de construcción de Atocha (Madrid)...................................... 15
CAPITULO 2
– Excavaciones en los talleres de la Estación de Atocha o “del Mediodía”......................................... 37
CAPITULO 3
– Estudio geoarqueológico de los depósitos del antiguo arroyo Castellana-Carcavón (Madrid)...... 51
CAPITULO 4
– El Real Canal del Manzanares. Zona arqueológica.............................................................................. 57
CAPITULO 5
– Yacimiento arqueológico “La Gavia III”
Investigaciones arqueológicas en La Gavia, Villa de Vallecas, Madrid........................................... 141
ANEXOS
– Fichas de otros elementos del Patrimonio Cultural de interés, documentados............................. 183
– Yacimiento arqueológico Santa Catalina.............................................................................................. 183
– Yacimiento arqueológico Valdecarros II............................................................................................... 187
– Elemento etnográfico Altamira II.......................................................................................................... 192
– Elemento etnográfico Altamira IV......................................................................................................... 195
– Elemento etnográfico Altamira V.......................................................................................................... 199
– Elemento cultural Bolardo de Atocha................................................................................................... 203
– Arqueología industrial Galerías subterráneas y caseta........................................................................ 205
– Arqueología industrial Galerías y plataforma de Garganta de los Montes............................................211
– Arqueología industrial Galerías de Garganta de los Montes I, II y III................................................... 214

Big navigable canals – fossata magna – are crucial parts of the European harbour network in the 1st millennium AD. By means of canals, site conditions at transition zones of the transportation network were artificially modified. Water depths and fairway widths of canals reflect specific requirements regarding the accessibility of inland harbours and waterways in the adjacent transport zones. These requirements significantly depend on the size of ships. In our study we present a supraregional and diachronic comparative approach, integrating canal parameters and ship findings. Our pivotal point is the Fossa Carolina or fossatum magnum (Germany), constructed in 793 AD to bridge the main European watershed. The 8th-century Kanhave Canal was cut through an isthmus on Samsø island (Denmark) to avoid a lengthy detour and to offer direct access to a safe natural harbour. The Fossa Corbulonis, built around 50 AD by Roman military, bridged the watershed between the Rivers Waal and Maas (Netherlands) to avoid a dangerous coastal route.

This report details the importance of the salt industry to the town and people of Middlewich. It examines the many uses of salt, the geological background, technological developments in extraction and production, social history, and how problems of transportation led to the construction of three canals to the town, and a chronological framework for the development history of some famous names in chemical industries, It is fully referenced and was compiled as a resource for educational and research purposes. It is supported by photographs and historic maps

Fossata Magna – A Canal Contribution to Harbour Construction in the 1st Millennium AD
Big navigable canals – fossata magna – are crucial parts of the European harbour network in the 1st millennium AD. By means of canals, site conditions at transition zones of the transportation network have been artificially modified. Water depths and fairway width of canals reflect specific requirements regarding the accessibility of inland harbours and waterways in the adjacent transport zones. These requirements significantly depend on the size of ships. In our study, we present a supra-regional and diachronic comparative approach integrating canal parameters and ship findings. Our pivotal point is the Fossa Carolina or fossatum magnum (Germany), constructed in 793 AD to bridge the main European watershed. The 8th century Kanhave canal was cut through an isthmus on Samsø Island (Denmark) to avoid a lengthy detour and to offer direct access to a safe natural harbour. The Fossa Corbulonis, built around 50 AD by roman military, bridges the watershed between the rivers Waal and Maas (Netherlands) to avoid a dangerous coastal route.

Ancient and medieval harbours connected via navigable and terrestrial routes could be interpreted as elements of complex traffic networks. Based on evidence from three projects in Priority Programme 1630 (Fossa Carolina, Inland harbours in Central Europe and Byzantine harbours on the Balkan coasts) we present a pioneer study to apply concepts and tools of network theory on archaeological and on written evidence as well as to integrate this data into different network models. Our diachronic approach allows for an analysis of the temporal and spatial dynamics of webs of connectivity with a focus on the 1st millennium AD. The combination of case studies on various spatial scales as well as from regions of inland and maritime navigation (Central Europe respectively the Seas around the Balkans) allows for the identification of structural similarities respectively difference between pre-modern traffic systems across Europe. The contribution is a first step towards further adaptions of tools of network analysis as an instrument for the connection and comparison of data across the projects of Priority Programme 1630.

Um Schiffe, Waren oder Personen von einem Gewässersystem in ein anderes zu überführen, müssen Wasserscheiden
überwunden werden. Seit der römischen Kaiserzeit wurde versucht, die damit verbundenen Landpassagen durch
Kanalbauten zu umgehen. Im späten 8. Jahrhundert wurde mit der Fossa Carolina ein künstlicher Durchbruch der
europäischen Hauptwasserscheide in Angriff genommen, um die frühmittelalterlichen Hafennetzwerke an Rhein
und Donau zu verbinden. So einzigartig dieser Bau ist, steht er dennoch nicht isoliert: Schriftquellen liefern vielfältige
Hinweise zu Organisation und Ablauf größerer hydrotechnischer Bauprojekte und zeigen, dass künstliche
Wasserführungen im Frühmittelalter keine Seltenheit waren. Am Karlsgraben erlauben neben zeitgenössischen
Beschreibungen neue geoarchäologische, geophysikalische und archäologische Untersuchungen detaillierte Einblicke
in Bau und Unterhalt des Kanals. Diese werden für einzelne Bauabschnitte zwischen Altmühl und Rezat vorgestellt und
diskutiert. Ein besonderer Fokus liegt auf den Ergebnissen einer archäologischen Sondage nördlich des Kanalscheitels.
Neben der Sedimentstratigraphie und Chronologie wird die dendrochronologisch in das Jahr 793 datiert hölzerne
Böschungssicherung vorgestellt und konstruktiv eingeordnet. Die Bearbeitung der Bauhölzer und verschiedene dendroarchäologische Details ermöglichen abschließend die Entwicklung erster Modelle zum Bauablauf des Kanals.

In order to transfer ships, wares or persons from one water-system to another, watersheds had to be overcome. Since
the Roman Imperial period one had attempted to by-pass the respective land-routes by constructing canals. In the late
8th century the Fossa Carolina was initiated to create an artificial penetration of the main European watershed, in
order to join the early mediaeval harbour networks on the Rhine and on the Danube. As unique as this construction
is, nevertheless it does not stand in isolation. Literary sources provide manifold indications of the organisation and
process of larger, hydro-technical construction projects and demonstrate that artificial water-courses during the early Middle Ages were not rare. As far as the Karlsgraben is concerned, apart from contemporary descriptions new geoarchaeological,
geophysical and archaeological investigations allow detailed insights into the building and maintenance
of the canal. These insights will be presented and discussed for individual constructional sections between Altmühl and
Rezat. A particular focus lies on the results of an archaeological trench north of the canal’s watershed. As well as the
stratigraphy of the sediments and chronology the timber protected embankment dendrochronologically dated to the
year 793 will be presented and structurally classified. The working of the timbers and various dendroarchaeological
details finally renders possible the development of the first models of the canal’s constructional history.