The importance of
water in the Neolithic
It's a stage of
prehistory that follows the Mesolithic. The name Neolithic means that appears a
new technique to work with the stone : polishing. This innovation of technique
is due to a new relation between man and his surrounding. Slowly, the forms of
substance as predators in the Palaeolithic are left for an economy of
production more constructive ( agriculture and animal's domestication) and the
man becomes sedentary.
He installs in little villages, near rivers or lakes.
Water is needed for animals to drink, for people, to polish water.....
Oriental villages are also installed near the rivers
because they need water.
The most important cultures of Middle East were
between Tigris and Eufrates (Mesopotamy)
Aqueducts
were used to bring water to the cities saving big level changes.
Greeks
built some of them but Romans built a
lot.
Since 1st
century BC, the developers of aqueducts technique brought channels over arches
when needed to save different levels. They built them with stones to be
stronger.
Many
roman aqueducts are still kept ,often used and repaired in later times.
Between
the biggest are the Segovias' one and Pont de Gard in France, around Nimes. The
most important one in Catalonia is in Tarragona, traditionally called
"pont de les Ferreres".
They are disintegration machines used to mash grain
and solid material in general. The water mills are the ones that work with the
water over a wheel.
During Neolithic, sedentary farmers societies used two stones or two solid pieces,
generally wood, to mash the cereal's grain.
In the first century they knew the water mills. They were
placed in villages close to water currents to use the hydraulic power.
In XI century the first wind mills appeared in Germany
that were extended quickly like the water mills.
In Catalonia, is considered that watermills belong to
the King or Baron that had the
monopoly. Sometimes the same lord exploited the mill taking the rights to mash.
From XVI century, the rights passed to the villages as
a source of common income. The mill's monopoly was finished completely in 1813
with the abolition of the baron's rights.
Depending on the use, mills can be :
"Blanquer", very used during XII-XIII-XIV,
used to break leather.
"Paperer", used to mash tissues to make
paper paste.
"Draper",to ....
"Seder" to make silk thread.
Conclusions
Without water, life can’t be. In the Savana, wild
animals meet around the few water points. Human beings from always have grouped
around water. The first civilizations were born, thousands of years ago, close
to big rivers. Along centuries, it has been necessary to invent techniques to
catch water , extract it and transport it where it has been needed, store it
and evacuate once used.
Today at home, we open the tap and water flows. It
looks easy but in fact it is the result of a complicated process. In some
countries, people has no current water and must go to get it every day.
