ROMRIVERS

Many ancient waterworks modified river systems with channelisation and canalisation. The aim of this project is to assess how these structures were designed to survive over time, and whether or not they adapted to socio-environmental changes. Based on an interdisciplinary study of urban channels and canals located in the western Mediterranean, we aim (1) to assess if the conception of river structures ensured their persistence by considering their dimensions, their restoration or restructuring and (2) to reconstruct the adaptation of these structures to socio-environmental modifications happening after their construction (climatic and hydro-sedimentary variations, socio-cultural changes, natural and anthropic events). This project focuses mainly on river structures built and used during the Roman period in Mediterranean deltaic areas (Rhône, Po and Tiber) and Atlantic river mouths (Guadalete and Loukkos). The project brings together an interdisciplinary team of archaeologists, geomorphologists, historians, and engineers using hydraulic modelling specialists to consider many aspects related to the realisation, the construction, the operability, and the maintenance of river structures between the 2nd c. BCE and Late Antiquity. Both ancient and modern engineering face the uncertainty of future socio-environmental changes. This project questions the concept of archaeo-environmental sustainability that considers the capacity of a river structure to fit into different Roman socio-environmental contexts.