Roman Qanat (Mehring)

Notice board on the Roman Qanat

The Roman qanat of Mehring is a tunnel aqueduct ( qanat ) of Roman origin on the northern edge of the municipality of Mehring / Mosel . It was used to supply water to a Roman villa in the 2nd or 3rd century and is now used to feed public wells.

The Qanat von Mehring was first mentioned in 1855 by Pastor Philipp Schmitt in connection with the excavation of the bathing wing of a Roman villa in 1834, located in today's Römerstraße. In 1998 the facility was examined by the North Rhine Cave and Karst Research Group and the Trier / Schweich mining community.

The qanat was exposed over a length of 106.50 meters, 10 access shafts from Roman times are known so far, about a third of the qanat has not yet been explored. The height of the canal is about 1.20 meters, the width about 50 to 60 centimeters. The system has a gradient of 1.8 percent.

There is also a Roman qanat in neighboring Pölich . Both are located in the area of Roman Wine Route and the Roman Road . In Trier country there are a large number of such tunnels, some of which are still unexplored. There are other systems of this type in Brey , Düren ( Drover Berg Tunnel), Saarbrücken ( Halberg Tunnel ) and in the Neuwied Basin .

literature

• Bruno Kremer, water supply from the tunnel: the Roman qanat from Mehring. In: Finds and excavations in the Trier district. 31 (1999), pp. 37-50, ISSN  0723-8630

Web links

• Entry on Roman settlement site (with a water pipe carved into the rock) in the database of cultural assets in the Trier region .

Coordinates: 49 ° 47 ′ 56.4 "  N , 6 ° 49 ′ 22.7"  E