The watermill
The first machine to replace muscle with a natural energy source on a large scale.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 529 years
- Known to
- ± 50 years
- Era
- Classical, Holocene
Vertical watermills are described by Vitruvius in the first century BCE and spread across the Roman world; the complex at Barbegal in southern France runs sixteen wheels in two cascades and could grind flour for tens of thousands of people. Water power is applied to sawing stone as well as milling grain. It is the earliest widespread use of inanimate power for production, and it remains the largest until steam.