Ancient Greek Geographer Pausanias as a Qualitative Karst Hydrogeologist

Clendenon, Cindy

doi:10.1111/j.1745-6584.2009.00630.x

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(24 reference statements)

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“…In Argos, tree spoons were used to find the velocity of the ground water movement through the karst network (Crouch, 2004). According to Pausanias, the reason why the ancient Greeks could know about the connection between inflow and outflow of karst water was because sacrificed items and animals followed the ground water flow and appeared in the outflow caves (Clendenon, 2009). Many ancient Greek cities depended on karst springs as their drinking water supply (Crouch, 1996(Crouch, , 2004 and the Hebrew city Jerusalem was located at its current place because of the karst spring of Gihon (Amiel et al, 2010).…”

Section: The Sacred Landscape and The Springsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The mentioned springs have over ages been celebrated for fertility, life, and death. From ancient Greece, the travelling historian Pausanias 120 AD described several karst holes of sacred water (Clendenon, 2009). In Argos, tree spoons were used to find the velocity of the ground water movement through the karst network (Crouch, 2004).…”

Section: The Sacred Landscape and The Springsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The hydrogeological and cultural background for two sacred springs, Bø, Telemark County, Norway

Klempe

2015

Quaternary International

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a b s t r a c tOf the many sacred springs in Norway, most dedicated to St. Olav, several have disappeared. Two of the sacred springs that still exist are located in Bø in Telemark, Southern Norway, and have been surveyed for their sedimentology and hydrology. The springs are embedded in a cultural landscape with several ancient monuments. The aquifers have been mapped by drilling, monitoring wells, and ground penetrating radar and analyzed by GIS models. The area is at the marine limit and most of the sediments have been deposited in the sea. The aquifer of the first spring occurs in subglacial and submarine sediments covered by a series of moraines. The aquifer of the other spring is above the confining till layer, bounded by moraines and located inside a 20 m thick glacial delta deposit. Both aquifers have documented properties that produce springs which under normal climatic conditions never dry and show stable temperatures close to the yearly mean air temperature. The residence time of the water is long for both of the aquifers. Both springs are point features and are not parts of large seepage faces. The locations of the springs may indicate a sacred position in an area of prehistoric farmland, Iron Age burial mounds, stone monuments of unknown age, and cup mark carvings. The springs are contaminated from old landfills, but are reverting, and one of them is under threat from sand pit expansion.

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Section: The Sacred Landscape and The Springsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Sacred Landscape and The Springsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The hydrogeological and cultural background for two sacred springs, Bø, Telemark County, Norway

Klempe

2015

Quaternary International

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“…The lake has a natural outlet on its southern side that is a sink-hole. Sink-holes are prone to plugging or sealing by sediment and can therefore "behave" erratically and this is clearly the source of stories told in antiquity of the sudden drainage of the lake as recorded by the Classical writer and geographer Pausanias (Clendenon, 2010). The Hercules myth is also probably related to the erratic behavior of the lake in an indirect fashion as well as the Greek myths of the hunter-gatherer origins of the Arcadians in their brutish environment (Schama, 1995).…”

Section: Case Study 2: Terraces In the Stymfalia Valley Nw Peloponnesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sink-holes are prone to plugging or sealing by sediment and can therefore "behave" erratically and this is clearly the source of stories told in antiquity of the sudden drainage of the lake as recorded by the Classical writer and geographer Pausanias(Clendenon, 2010). The Stymfalia Valley is a polje (structural valley in limestone) in the NW Peloponnese in Greece.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Societal stability and environmental change: Examining the archaeology‐soil erosion paradox

Brown

Walsh

2016

Geoarchaeology

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This paper critically examines the soil exhaustion and societal collapse hypothesis both theoretically and empirically. The persistence of civilizations, especially in the Mediterranean, despite intensive and presumably erosive arable farming creates what is described here as the archaeology soil erosion paradox. This paper examines the data used to estimate past erosion and weathering rates before presenting case studies that engage with the theoretical arguments. Study 1 shows 5000 years of high slope erosion rates with both soil use and agriculture continuously maintained in the catchment. Study 2 shows how ancient agricultural terraces were constructed as part of an integrated agricultural system that fed the ancient city of Stymphalos—now abandoned. Study 3 presents a recent example of how after the removal of terraces high soil erosion rates result during intense rainstorms but that arable agriculture can still be maintained while external costs are borne by other parties. What these case studies have in common is the creation of soil, and increased weathering rates while productivity is maintained due to a combination of soft bedrock and/or agricultural terraces. In societal terms this may not be sustainable but it does not necessarily lead to land abandonment or societal collapse.

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“…In a plausible account summarized by Clendenon (2009c), the ancient Greek geographer Pausanias (c. 175 AD) mentioned that an unnamed river of western coastal Turkey had its source on Mount Mycale (Pausanias 5.7.5). This low mountain possesses karstic features and in classical times formed a promontory surrounded on three sides by the Aegean Sea.…”

Section: Four Ancient Legends Of Offshore Transport Of Fresh Water Thmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient Greek Hydromyths About the Submarine Transport of Terrestrial Fresh Water Through Seabeds Offshore of Karstic Regions

Clendenon

2009

Self Cite

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IzvlečekUDK 556.3:398.22 Cindy Clendenon: Starogrški miti o površinskih sladkovodnih tokovih s krasa, ki ponikajo v morske plasti daleč od obale Prispevek podrobneje razpravlja o odnosih med starogrškimi besedili in fizičnimi možnostmi kraških sladkovodnih tokov v morskih plasteh daleč od kraških obal. Štiri preučena besedila opisujejo močne podmorske izvire v vzhodnem delu Črnega morja, lokalni pretok podtalnice skozi plasti Mileškega zaliva v Turčiji, domnevne podzemeljsko-podmorske zveze med zahodno turško obalo in grškim severovzhodnim Peloponezom in domnevne zveze med obalo zahodnega Peloponeza in jugovzhodno obalo Sicilije. Verjetnost oziroma neverjetnost teh legend je bila ocenjena z vidika sodobnih poročil o pojavu celinske sladke vode v podmorskih plasteh do 60 km od obale. Druga poročila ugotavljajo sladko vodo celo do 160 km od obale, verjetno v zvezi s silami, ki jih povzroča morje. Navedeni primeri potrjujejo antične trditve o obalnem pretakanju podzemeljske vode in kažejo na legende, ki na podlagi lokalnega poznavanja kraške hidrologije razlagajo tudi prekomorske povezave. Ker postajajo podmorski sladkovodni izvir vedno bolj pomembni za poznavanje vodnih zvez in nakazujejo možno izrabo obalnih voda za oskrbo z vodo, lahko nudijo stare zgodbe nekdanjih civilizacij ključ do morskih predelov, ki bi zaslužili podrobnejše raziskave. This study examined the relationship between ancient Greek texts and the physical possibility of focused, distal flow of terrestrial fresh water through the seabed, particularly offshore of karstic coasts. The four ancient texts which were analyzed describe powerful discharges from submarine springs in the eastern Black Sea; the local transport of groundwater through the bed of Turkey's Bay of Miletus; alleged subterranean-submarine connections between coastal western Turkey and the Greek northeast Peloponnese; and alleged connections between the coastal western Peloponnese and southeastern coastal Sicily. The plausibility or implausibility of these legends was assessed in the context of modern reports indicating that seabed pathways can transport continental fresh water up to 60 km offshore. Other reports identify fresh water in the seabed as far as 160 km offshore, presumably due to marine-induced forces. These documented cases validated ancient claims of nearshore groundwater transport and legitimized transoceanic claims as mythologized extrapolations of local karstic hydrogeology. As submarine fresh groundwater becomes increasingly important in understanding material transport and in identifying potentially exploitable coastal water supplies, ancient stories from past civilizations may give clues to offshore sites meriting further exploration.

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Ancient Greek Geographer Pausanias as a Qualitative Karst Hydrogeologist

Cited by 8 publications

References 21 publications

The hydrogeological and cultural background for two sacred springs, Bø, Telemark County, Norway

The hydrogeological and cultural background for two sacred springs, Bø, Telemark County, Norway

Societal stability and environmental change: Examining the archaeology‐soil erosion paradox

Ancient Greek Hydromyths About the Submarine Transport of Terrestrial Fresh Water Through Seabeds Offshore of Karstic Regions

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