1 The Birth of Science - MSRI

224 9. Science, Technology and Economy
mineral substances. (Some of the medicines mentioned by Dioscorides are
of mineral origin, such as verdigris and the copper mineral called chalkitis.)
One hint about both the availability of new products and the increasing
importance of materials of mineral origin is in a passage by Plutarch that
mentions nonflammable fabrics made from asbestos fibers. Admittedly
this was not an economically important use, but neither was it an isolated
curiosity, since the fibers were mined until the vein was exhausted. 49
The most important of the ancient technologies long ignored by historians
is probably the utilization of water power. Thus Marc Bloch, in spite of
having been the first to recognize the Greek origin of water mills, wrote:
For one should make no mistake: the water mill, though an ancient
invention, is medieval from the point of view of its effective diffusion.
50
His opinion was based primarily on the absence of clear literary references
to water mills in the first three centuries A.D. and was long shared by all
historians, who felt that the intensive utilization of water power was a
major mark of technological progress in the Middle Ages.
Of the ancient sites where the use of water power is archeologically attested,
the most important is the flour plant at Barbegal, near Arles, where page 279
imposing remains have been found: grain was milled by 32 stones turned
by sixteen vertical water wheels arranged in pairs on eight levels. Though
many researchers think that the flour was exported, R. Sellin believes that
the plant was designed to serve local needs. 51 The plant was originally
thought to date from late Antiquity, but recent studies have proved that
present remains go back to the early second century A.D. 52 Archeological
discoveries of smaller mills going back to the early imperial age continue
to multiply. They have been made throughout the western extension of the
Empire; in the eastern part, we know from epigraphical evidence that in
the Phrygian city of Hierapolis around 200 A.D. there were enough water
mills to justify the foundation of a millers’ league. It is now accepted that,
in spite of the almost complete silence of our written sources, water mills
49 Plutarch, De defectu oraculorum, 434A–B.
50 [Bloch: Moulin], p. 545.
51 [Sellin]. He reaches this conclusion by supposing, inter alia, that the wheels ran idle half the
time and that the population of Arles consumed 350 grams per capita per day of mill-produced
flour. He also estimates that the power of each wheel did not exceed that of a 250 cc motorcycle. This
mordant observation highlights how technologically uncivilized we ourselves are, in destroying
the environment by wasting on a few motorcycles enough energy to produce food for a whole
town. But after all is said and done, our current system, based on the exploitation of nonrenewable
energy sources, will last but a moment on a historical scale.
52 [Leveau].
Revision: 1.4 Date: 2002/10/12 00:00:03