Waterscape and Floods Management of Greek Selinus: The Cottone River Valley

Abstract

This paper investigates water bodies in the Greek colony of Selinus, Western Sicily-Italy. It focuses especially on one of the two rivers of the city: the Cottone. The investigative strategy adopted in this study consists of an interdisciplinary approach based on the analysis of archaeological evidence, Earth Sciences data, and the study of historical cartography. Results indicate that the Cottone River was not a swampy and unhealthy intermittent stream as it was believed so far; it was instead a fully functional water body featuring an active floodplain. Most importantly, research presented in this article indicates several floods occurred in Selinus from the second or third quarter of the sixth century BC to the end of the fifth century BC. These floods, which occurred at the peak of Selinus’ cultural and economic life, were related to severe major events, rather than seasonal floods, as suggested by other scholars. The management of these floods and the waterscape was crucial to the city’s prosperity. This article also analyzes the relationship between the Cottone River and the fortification walls located at the Cottone River Valley. Results indicate that the fortification walls functioned not only as a defensive infrastructure, but also as a hydraulic engineering solution for flood retention. A better understanding of the environment in which Selinus was settled is now available, and knowledge on the importance of waterscapes and their management has been enhanced.

The River Valleys of the Greek Colony of Selinunte: Results of an Offshore Investigation

“…There is also little information about the topographic features of the valleys and the location and extent of the ancient courses of the two rivers flowing along the flanks of the colony. Some information about the palaeogeography of the area comes from historical documents, maps, or travel reports, e.g., [9], and is supplemented by the results of archaeological excavations and geological and geophysical surveys. Two stratigraphic drillings reaching a depth of 15 m in the valleys of the Modione and Cottone rivers have shown that they are very different from each other [11], with the western valley characterized by a quite uniform fluvial sedimentation and the eastern one showing the characteristics of a former lagoon connected to the sea.…”

“…After the end of the 5th century BC, no more floods were documented at the fortifications. In general, it has been suggested [9] that the continued accumulation of sediment and low maintenance of the coastal floodplain may have contributed to the progressive silting of the river. Archaeological evidence shows that agriculture continued in the Selinunte area after 409 BC [4], and although agriculture was not as intensive as in the Greek period, it contributed to the drying up of the Cottone River.…”

“…The results of these investigations have not yet been published. It would be interesting to understand if these walls can be related to the parallel walls known in the literature, to port structures, or the channelization of the Cottone river outflow, e.g., [9].…”

“…Thanks to maps and plans of Sicily from the 12th to 17th centuries and based on traveler's reports from the 16th to early 20th centuries, geographic features such as ponds and marshes near the colony have been documented, e.g., [9]. Beginning in the mid-16th century and continuing for the past 500 years, the area has been described as a marshy, unhealthy environment that created conditions for the spread of disease and epidemics.…”

“…Palaeoenvironmental and palaeogeographic reconstructions based on an integrated analysis of archeological evidence, geological information, and the study of historical cartography and ancient written sources [9,10] show that the Cottone River was not a marshy and unhealthy intermittent river but a fully functioning water body with an active floodplain. Modern cartographers have demonstrated changes to the Modione River over the past 200 years, as shown by maps from 1782 to 1910, e.g., [9], which document both meanders of the river and marshes.…”