Charlemagne's summit canal: an early medieval hydro-engineering project for passing the Central European Watershed.

ABSTRACT: The Central European Watershed divides the Rhine-Main catchment and the Danube catchment. In the Early Medieval period, when ships were important means of transportation, Charlemagne decided to link both catchments by the construction of a canal connecting the Schwabian Rezat and the Altmühl rivers. The artificial waterway would provide a continuous inland navigation route from the North Sea to the Black Sea. The shortcut is known as Fossa Carolina and represents one of the most important Early Medieval engineering achievements in Europe. Despite the important geostrategic relevance of the construction it is not clarified whether the canal was actually used as a navigation waterway. We present new geophysical data and in situ findings from the trench fills that prove for the first time a t

SUBMITTER: Zielhofer C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4177111 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature