Comparative Analysis of Water Extraction Mechanism in Roman Mines

• Published in: Foundations of science 2024-03, Vol.29 (1), p.185-203
• Main Authors: Fortes-Garrido, J. C., Rodríguez-Pérez, A. M., Hernández-Torres, J. A., Caparrós-Mancera, J. J., Dávila-Martín, J. M., Castilla-Gutiérrez, J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Comparative analysis; Decision analysis; Drainage systems; Education; Mathematical Logic and Foundations; Methodology of the Social Sciences; Mines; Multiple criterion; New technology; Philosophy; Philosophy of Science; Pulleys; Water analysis; Water wheels
• ISSN: 1233-1821; 1572-8471
• DOI: 10.1007/s10699-022-09891-9

The removal of water from mines was one of the key issues that former miners had to deal with. Roman colonists brought new technology to the Iberian Peninsula that addressed this problem. However, they did not invent this technology because it had already been applied to the growth of other endeavours in the Hellenistic society throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. In the mine, the Archimedes screw, waterwheels, bucket pulleys, and Ctesibius pumps were the primary drainage systems. In this essay, the primary characteristics, and modes of operation of machines are examined. Without leaving out the most significant finds made in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, one of the regions with the longest history of mining exploitation. To serve as a foundation for future research in this field, this work compares the primary mining mechanisms in ancient Huelva on a qualitative and quantitative level by the implementation of a TOPSIS methodology, a multi-criteria decision analysis method.