Page - 187 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

11 MeetingWaterNeedsasaMajor Challenge in anUrbanContext 187 Fig. 5:Recon- structionof the excavatedpile systemnear Stein/Donau. ing and bridges had to be repaired and renewed on a regular basis. This was also true for a quay on the former estuary of the Alaunbach (a brook), a silted-up branch of the Danube be- tweenKremsandStein.Duringexcavationwork in January 2017 for the foundationof theState GalleryofLowerAustria,numerous logswereuncoveredandsubsequentarchaeological investi- gations revealed that they belonged to a complex pile system (Fig.5). The findswere under a layer of Danube gravel almost sixmetres thick. It can be assumed that boats berthed on this reinforcedbank. Smallmetal clamps (as theyare still used today for barges) testify to this. The reinforcement consisted ofmany roundpiles arranged in several rows thatwere dendro-dated to 1250–1350. The branch eventually silted upwithmaterial washed in from the Danube and theAlaunbachbrook, andeventually disappeared completely.40 Usingand regulating thepowerofwater Ingeneral,writtendocuments relating to the issuesdiscussedhereofhowwaterwasdealtwith in the regionofKrems,SteinandMauternexist only fromthe 14th centuryonwards. Theopera- tion ofmills, however, is documentedmuch earlier. As one of themost important sources of energy for themedieval economy,hydrodynamicpower isparticularlyprominent in thecontext ofmilling facilitiesand indesigning the legal framework for termsofuseandoperation.41Men- tion of amill in Kremsownedby thehospitalward of the convent inMelk andunrightfully in pawnwasmade as early as 1216.42 As in other places,mills inKremswere located outside the townwalls, along theKremsbrookor theKamp runningdownstreamof theDanube further to the east.43 Documents testify to a number ofmills sub lapide to the east of the town, such as theoneownedby theConventof theDominicannunsof Imbach,44 thosemills of theBenedict- 40 Pieler 2018. I thankKarinKühtreiber for hermanypieces of oral informationon thepreliminary results of the excavation.Adetailed report on the excavationwill be available in 2019. 41 Petersen–Reitemeier 2017;Vadas 2017;Vadas 2019. 42Winner–Herold 2001, no. 27 (1216May 27). 43 Fuchs 1901b, no. 1175, 249f. (1433February 2); no. 1287, 364f. (1442October 14). 44 Haus-,Hof- undStaatsarchiv, Imbach,Dominikanerinnen (1259March 1); (1282);Haus-,Hof- undStaatsarchiv, Imbach,Dominikanerinnen (1351 February 24); Zajic 2007, 42. 56.