Waterscape and Floods Management of Greek Selinus: The Cottone River Valley

This paper investigates water bodies in the Greek colony of Selinus, Western Sicily-Italy. It focuses especially on one of the two rivers of the city: the Cottone. The investigative strategy adopted in this study consists of an interdisciplinary approach based on the analysis of archaeological evide...

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Autor principal:	Mazza Alba
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	De Gruyter 2021
Materias:	sicily selinunte waterscapes coastal landscape floods water management greek archaeology Archaeology CC1-960
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/dbc10b3b145849c4819c0026dd1e8686
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:dbc10b3b145849c4819c0026dd1e86862021-12-05T14:10:59ZWaterscape and Floods Management of Greek Selinus: The Cottone River Valley2300-656010.1515/opar-2020-0172https://doaj.org/article/dbc10b3b145849c4819c0026dd1e86862021-09-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2020-0172https://doaj.org/toc/2300-6560This paper investigates water bodies in the Greek colony of Selinus, Western Sicily-Italy. It focuses especially on one of the two rivers of the city: the Cottone. The investigative strategy adopted in this study consists of an interdisciplinary approach based on the analysis of archaeological evidence, Earth Sciences data, and the study of historical cartography. Results indicate that the Cottone River was not a swampy and unhealthy intermittent stream as it was believed so far; it was instead a fully functional water body featuring an active floodplain. Most importantly, research presented in this article indicates several floods occurred in Selinus from the second or third quarter of the sixth century BC to the end of the fifth century BC. These floods, which occurred at the peak of Selinus’ cultural and economic life, were related to severe major events, rather than seasonal floods, as suggested by other scholars. The management of these floods and the waterscape was crucial to the city’s prosperity. This article also analyzes the relationship between the Cottone River and the fortification walls located at the Cottone River Valley. Results indicate that the fortification walls functioned not only as a defensive infrastructure, but also as a hydraulic engineering solution for flood retention. A better understanding of the environment in which Selinus was settled is now available, and knowledge on the importance of waterscapes and their management has been enhanced.Mazza AlbaDe Gruyterarticlesicilyselinuntewaterscapescoastal landscapefloodswater managementgreek archaeologyArchaeologyCC1-960ENOpen Archaeology, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1066-1090 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	sicily selinunte waterscapes coastal landscape floods water management greek archaeology Archaeology CC1-960
spellingShingle	sicily selinunte waterscapes coastal landscape floods water management greek archaeology Archaeology CC1-960 Mazza Alba Waterscape and Floods Management of Greek Selinus: The Cottone River Valley
description	This paper investigates water bodies in the Greek colony of Selinus, Western Sicily-Italy. It focuses especially on one of the two rivers of the city: the Cottone. The investigative strategy adopted in this study consists of an interdisciplinary approach based on the analysis of archaeological evidence, Earth Sciences data, and the study of historical cartography. Results indicate that the Cottone River was not a swampy and unhealthy intermittent stream as it was believed so far; it was instead a fully functional water body featuring an active floodplain. Most importantly, research presented in this article indicates several floods occurred in Selinus from the second or third quarter of the sixth century BC to the end of the fifth century BC. These floods, which occurred at the peak of Selinus’ cultural and economic life, were related to severe major events, rather than seasonal floods, as suggested by other scholars. The management of these floods and the waterscape was crucial to the city’s prosperity. This article also analyzes the relationship between the Cottone River and the fortification walls located at the Cottone River Valley. Results indicate that the fortification walls functioned not only as a defensive infrastructure, but also as a hydraulic engineering solution for flood retention. A better understanding of the environment in which Selinus was settled is now available, and knowledge on the importance of waterscapes and their management has been enhanced.
format	article
author	Mazza Alba
author_facet	Mazza Alba
author_sort	Mazza Alba
title	Waterscape and Floods Management of Greek Selinus: The Cottone River Valley
title_short	Waterscape and Floods Management of Greek Selinus: The Cottone River Valley
title_full	Waterscape and Floods Management of Greek Selinus: The Cottone River Valley
title_fullStr	Waterscape and Floods Management of Greek Selinus: The Cottone River Valley
title_full_unstemmed	Waterscape and Floods Management of Greek Selinus: The Cottone River Valley
title_sort	waterscape and floods management of greek selinus: the cottone river valley
publisher	De Gruyter
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/dbc10b3b145849c4819c0026dd1e8686
work_keys_str_mv	AT mazzaalba waterscapeandfloodsmanagementofgreekselinusthecottonerivervalley
_version_	1718371507838648320

Waterscape and Floods Management of Greek Selinus: The Cottone River Valley

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