The World’s Oldest Bridges - Mycenaean Bridges

Karas Slawomir^1, and Nien-Tsu Tuan²

¹Road and Bridge Department, Lublin University of Technology

²University of Cape Town, South Africa

Cite this paper:
Karas Slawomir and Nien-Tsu Tuan. The World’s Oldest Bridges - Mycenaean Bridges. American Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture. 2017; 5(6):237-244. doi: 10.12691/ajcea-5-6-3

Abstract

The ancient bridges and their remnants located in the vicinity of and Arkadico villages are considered to be the world's oldest bridges. The bridges were built with massive irregular limestone blocks, called Cyclopean boulders, in the Bronze Age. Two of the four objects discussed here are still in operation, occasionally used for the needs of local agriculture. The bridges are classified as clapper schemes, but a lot points to the parallel use of the arch bridge technology. The remnants of the bridge in the vicinity of the modern , due to the significant width of the riverbed, suggest that it might have been the longest among Mycenaean bridges. Probably, it was a multi-span bridge. The structures of the discussed bridges have flat bottom platforms that stabilize the walls of the bridge openings and protect them against washing out. The technological problem of the bridge keystone installation was investigated in the cases of corbel and arch systems.

Keywords:
Mycenaean bridges corbel structures human heritage

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	Mao Yisheng, History of ancient bridge technology, Beijing Press, 1986, p.4.
[2]	ChinaDaily, Ruins of ancient bridges discovered in Xi'an, http://www.kaogu.cn/en/News/Academic_activities/2015/0120/48996.html [24.10. 2017].
[3]	Jansen A., Bronze Age Highways at Mycenae, Echos du Monde Classique. Classical Views. Classical Association of Canada, University of Calgary Press, 41, 16, 1997; 1-16.
[4]	Simpson H.R., Hagel D.K., Mycenaean Fortifications, Highways, Dams and Canals. ISBN 10: 9170812128 / ISBN 13: 9789170812125. Published by Paul Aströms Förlag, 2006, p. 254.
[5]	Bougia P., Ancient Bridges in Greece and Coastal Asia Minor, Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania. 1996
[6]	Briegleb J., Die vorrömischen Steinbrücken des Altertums, Technikgeschichte, 1971, 38 (3): 255-260 (258)
[7]	Nakassis A., The Bridges of Ancient Eleutherna, The Annual of the British School at Athens, 2000, 95: 353-365.
[8]	Karas S., Kowal M., The Mycenaean bridges - technical evaluation trial. Roads and Bridges 14, 4, 2015, 285-302.
[9]	Howard Carter's notes made in preparation of the complete publication of Tutankhamun's tomb. Ed. by Sue Hutchison, Hana Navrátilová and Jaromir Malek. Sourced from http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/4tutchar.html. [12.09.2017].
[10]	Karas S., History of Sustainable Bridge Solutions, 1. Chapter in Structural Bridge Engineering, 2016, InTech.
[11]	Shank G., Cunningham D.J., Modeling the six modes of Peircean abduction for educational purposes. https://www.cs.indiana.edu/event/maics96/Proceedings/shank.html [19.10.2017].
[12]	Reilly F.E., Charles Peirce’s theory of scientific method. ISBN 0-8232-0880-X. Fordham University Press, 1970, p. 33.
[13]	Cohen M.R., Nagel E., An introduction to logic and scientific method. Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, 1934, p. 202.