Page - 214 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

214 BettyArndt Fig. 1:Mapof the old townof Göttingenwith surrounding rampart (darkgrey), water-filledmoat and the inner stone wall (black line). 1: theartificially divertedGote; 2: the lined Leinekanal forming apart of the inner fortification; 3: natural sidearms of the Leine (e.g. ‘Cow-Leine’) in the west, usedby several industries. foundation of a townbeneath it in about 1180 is said to be connected to a ford on the nearby river Leine. Evenwhen the river was only small, it formed an obstacle for carts andwalkers, which could increase in seasons of heavy rainfalls when the water level could suddenly rise enormously, so the facility to cross itwas essential for theuseof theold trading routes. Theproto-urban settlement ofGutingiwas set beneath theHellweg, a trading routedating back to the timeofCharlemagneorbefore.Anearbystreamcomingdownfromtheeasternhills wouldnaturallyhave takenanorthern route, following the topography, ashydrological studies haveshown.1However, thepeople in thevillageofGutingi redirected thestreamtomake it flow through theareaof their settlement (Fig. 1, 1),whichwassetonasmall ridge.Evidence for this was found inseveral transects in theexcavationof thevillage in2003.2Theyshowedthestream of the small river andabroad floodingzone,which is the result of flooding in several seasonal heavy rain events. The flooding zone could be seen in areas of different sizes of grains of soil, which indicate different velocities of thewater flow. Somewhere in thewest, this new stream was connectedagainwith a side armof theLeine. The redirectionof the streammusthavebeenanenormous effort for the community–and it shows the importanceof, andneed for, freshwater,whichhasbeenvital for every settlement 1 Keller 1980. 2 Arndt–Ströbl 2005, 29–35;Arndt 2004a, 119.