geology and settlement greco-roman patterns dec 2003

Geology and Settlement: Greco-Roman Patterns DORA P. CROUCH OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS GEOLOGY AND SETTLEMENT The Greco-Roman world and two major fault systems: The North Anatolian and the Cretan GEOLOGY AND SETTLEMENT Greco-Roman Patterns DORA P. CROUCH With scientific contributions from Aurelio Aureli, Giovanni Bruno, Laura Ercoli, Talip Gu¨ ngo¨r, Marina de Maio, Paul G. Marinos, Charles Ortloff, U ¨ nal O ¨ zis, and Wolfgang Vetters and the assistance of Ahmet Alkan, Ayhan Atalay, Yu¨ ksel Birsoy, Pietro Cipolla, Poppy Gaki-Papanastasiou, Eleni Kolati, Roberto Maugeri, Paolo Mazzoleni, Antonio Pezzino, Sprios Plessas, Rossario Ruggieri, and Antoinella Sciortino 1 2003 1 Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Sa˜o Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Copyright ᭧ 2003 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Crouch, Dora P. Geology and settlement : Greco-Roman patterns / by Dora P. Crouch. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-19-508324-5 1. Engineering geology—Rome. 2. Engineering geology—Greece. 3. City planning—Rome. 4. City planning—Greece. I. Title. TA705.4.R66 C76 2002 711'.42'0937—dc21 2001021613 987654321 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper This long labor began in curiosity and ends with thanks to those who revealed to me the patterns of the world’s unfolding in both geological and human history. This page intentionally left blank Preface The water supply and engineering questions I asked earlier (Crouch 1993), with the geology questions of this book, shed new light on Greco-Roman cities. By reflecting upon data and insights from additional disciplines, we have a larger matrix for ancient cities than when archaeology alone deals with explication of a site. Old methods can offer archaeological evidence of Greek walls to contain the river at Argos, or historical documents such as lists of all earthquakes in western Turkey since Roman times, with dates and description of perceived severity (Earth- quake Catalogue), to make dating more manageable. Checking each site for ge- ological evidence of datable events has improved the comparisons we make. By comparing ten cities we introduce generalization, revealing more than would any one individual case history (Finley 1977: 314). At Argos, for instance, there is dra- matic evidence of flooding in the hinterland as well as in the agora at the center of the city, whereas at Miletus the very process of modern excavation has had to be timed with the annual flooding pattern in mind. When the right kinds of questions are asked, there is an abundance of material for answers, even allowing for our tendencies to apply our classifications onto the ancient world (Gordon 1979). Inferred parallels from insufficient data are likely to be closer to the truth than wild guesses based on what we think ought to have been the case. The specificity of the geological settings and elements of water systems in these ancient cities is gratifying to me as one who bases history on tangible objects, and dear to me because I am “allergic or totally deaf to ideal types” (Finley 1977: 316). That tangibility helps to avoid some of the “elusiveness of truth” confronting those—deconstructionists and others—who deal with text and context at the verbal level (Galloway ca. 1992). Rigid boundaries between disciplines—seismologists not knowing the ancient literature and the results of modern archaeology, or archaeologists barely ac- quainted with geomophology, seismology, and other scientific disciplines—inter- fere with team work. This work cannot be expected to be smooth and easy, al- though we can achieve illumination through discussion of “facts,” methods, and viii Preface discoveries. Different disciplinary standards of “truth” and “results,” and charac- teristic national behaviors among the investigators affect the evaluation—but also the residual ambiguity—of interdisciplinary studies. Multidisciplinary teams also have to work out communication problems arising from disciplinary jargons in urban demography, karst geology, sociology, classical archaeology, or climatolog- ical history. Not every scholar who works on ancient cities, for instance, is fluent in Greek and Latin. One simple precaution would be to provide translations for all foreign languages quoted, even for mathematics and engineering formulas, which are foreign languages to humanists (Glossary, Appendix B). Working at two intellectual levels simultaneously has been extremely chal- lenging. On the one hand, to master—even with team work—the scattered data from ten ancient cities has been nigh impossible. On the other hand, to assimilate the methods of sets of scientific fields that have changed faster than we could learn has been daunting. Modern traditions and methods may constitute a filter between us and the remnants of the past, facilitating or inhibiting our understanding of that past (Keller 1985). Our team has done its best to acknowledge our filters consciously and to look beyond them. As pioneers, we hope to have the remaining blind spots forgiven us. Acknowledgments Although this book is history and geology, not archaeology, it has been necessary to have official permission to work at archaeological sites. In Sicily, we thank excavator D. Mertens who allowed our work at Selinus. The superintendent at Syracuse gave permission, while G. Bongiovanni, R. Maugeri, and R. Ruggieri helped us to see the geology connected to the form of the city. The superintendent at Enna and several chief archaeologists at Morgantina gave permission. Dott.essa G. Fiorentini, Superintendent at Agrigento, made the library of the Superintenzia available to us, and local experts there, Emma and Giovanni Trasatti and C. Micceche´, shared their insights. Access to the Morgantina excavation room at Princeton University and early encouragement were kindly given by Dr. William Childs. We further acknowledge the help of the Department of Civil Engineering and Structural Geology at the University of Palermo, Prof. Dr. R. Schiliro and Dr. P. Atzori of the Institute for Mineralogy at the University of Catania, and the Institute for Applied Geology and Geotechnics at the Technological University at Bari, where Egidio Messina and Mrs. M. Rosaria Paiano were most helpful. In Greece, our team cleared the work with Mme. Anne Pariente of the French School at Athens for the sites of Argos and Delphi. At Corinth, former director Charles Williams and associate director Dr. Nancy Bookidis were helpful. The Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Geology at the Technical Uni- versity at Athens gave notable assistance for all three Greek sites, through its chair Prof. Dr. Paul G. Marinos, his staff, and his graduate students, especially Dr. Spyros Plessas. In Turkey, our team worked under the aegis of the Departments of Geology and Civil Engineering at Dokuz Eylu¨l University, informed by the long-term ex- pertise of Prof. Dr. U ¨ .O ¨ zis and field visits with him and Prof. Dr. Y. Birsoy and their graduate students Dr. A. Alkan and Dr. T. Gu¨ngo¨r. Dr. Gu¨ngo¨r’s priceless knowledge of the geology and Alkan’s of the terrain were supplemented impor- tantly by geologist Dr. W. Vetters’ life-long attention to Ephesus. The excavator [...]... Thornes and Brunsden 1977.) The impulse to History, Geology, Engineering, and Archaeology 19 sort evidence into chronological order and then reflect on that order is equally strong in geology and in art, architectural and urban history, qualifying all four as types of history Geology and Engineering Whereas history has become more and more differentiated and comprehensive, the discipline of geology. .. alluviation, and other geological events and processes to affect both hinterlands and settlements, and to be reflected in literary and archaeological records In our set of cities, similar petrologies and similar geological processes and events have contributed to a family resemblance manifested in similar cultures Introduction 9 In this study, we attempt to correlate what is known of the seismic and sedimentary... products of the land Mountain pastures, as at Priene and Argos, provided meat and milk products, another variation of diet These physical features, in turn, depended on how the land had been formed over long time periods by both gradual processes such as uplift, metamorphosis, and the intrusion of the sea over the land, and abrupt changes like earthquakes and landslides Localized study expanded our knowledge... based on karst geology and amenable to hydraulic engineering, how the topography and building materials determined the urban design, and how geological events and processes altered human plans For each site, we have photographs Introduction 11 and geological maps correlated with maps of Greco-Roman buildings, streets, ramparts, and so on—the visual equivalent of our intellectual understandings Chronologies... organization of the chapters We conclude with reflections on our scientific and historical findings and their meanings for the histories of these particular settlements, for the history of Greco-Roman urbanism as a whole, and for the development of geology as a humanistic and historical discipline 2 History, Geology, Engineering, and Archaeology It remains a deplorable fact how little historians have understood... of maintaining a water and drainage system under the new physical circumstances and with less money contributed to the decrease in population and importance Thus the geological base was key to understanding both the basic problems— food, water, and shelter—that each human settlement had faced and the solutions that the ancient people found Yet the few existing studies of the geology of Greek regions... glossary of technical terms in geology, archaeology, hydraulic engineering, and architecture can be found in Appendix B The ancient cities themselves vary in the amount of written history and archaeological information available from standard archaeological and philological research Adding insights from geology, engineering, and urban history, we can contribute to a better understanding of each of these cities... comparisons For modern investigators, the Greco-Roman sites have the advantage of long duration and depth of study Fourteen hundred years of urbanization gave the Greeks and Romans time and incentive to observe results and plan improvements and that time span gives us the opportunity to observe the planned and unplanned events of urbanization Thanks to the fascination the Greco-Roman 10 Background world has... topography, geomorphology, seismicity, engineering geology, structural geology, hydrogeology, sedimentology, archaeological geology, eustatic sea-level changes at coastal cities, and the study of weathering Specific geological information makes the urban history and archaeology of each site more exact and plausible, giving us new insights into the process and constraints of urbanization Making correlations... analysis enables us to have a more realistic understanding of how and why a city developd in one way or direction rather than another The studies of Van Andel et al (e.g., 1986) were among the first to show the real limits placed on settlements by geology The amount of rainfall and extent of karstification together with the amount and quality of arable land at a particular site were significant for ancient . Geology and Settlement: Greco-Roman Patterns DORA P. CROUCH OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS GEOLOGY AND SETTLEMENT The Greco-Roman world and two major fault systems: The North Anatolian and the. Dora P. Geology and settlement : Greco-Roman patterns / by Dora P. Crouch. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-19-508324-5 1. Engineering geology Rome. 2. Engineering geology Greece Dr. U ¨ .O ¨ zis and field visits with him and Prof. Dr. Y. Birsoy and their graduate students Dr. A. Alkan and Dr. T. Gu¨ngo¨r. Dr. Gu¨ngo¨r’s priceless knowledge of the geology and Alkan’s of