A Documentation and Conservation Method for Water Mills

Abstract

Watermills are examples of industrial heritage carrying traces of improvement in hydraulic power technology and reveal societies' cultural structure and lifestyle since the ancient times. They are 'historical documents' in terms of structure type, assembly, and production techniques. A research conducted on the water mills of Anatolia known to be used for grinding in three different water basins revealed that watermills surviving to the present day are not considered cultural heritage and are unregistered; hence, a study for the conservation of these structures was decided to be started. To effectively conserve them, creating inventories for the identified watermills was undertaken. Accordingly, a 'watermill inventory' model was developed by creating two different forms about settlement and structure details, using the TÜBA-TÜKSEK Turkish Cultural Inventory Project principles as guidelines. These forms were used for documenting 25 watermills identified in 'Eastern Black Sea Basin' and 'Çağlayan, Sulak, Arılı' subbasins. The watermills were examined according to criteria based on their originality and integrity of their structure and technology. The original structural sustainability of the watermills was determined to be under threat, and the determined deteriorations were numerically evaluated according to their form, location, and significance. Based on results of the evaluation, a conservation approach was designed and used to identify watermills having priority for conservation according to the structures ranked according to their deterioration status.

Keywords

• documentation
• eastern black sea
• industrial heritage
• conservation
• water mill.