Bridge near Kemer
36.69333333333329.361944444444Koordinaten: 36 ° 41 ' 36 "N, 29 ° 21' 43 " O
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Xanthos ( Koca Çayı )
The Bridge at Kemer was a Roman bridge over the river Xanthos ( Koca Çayı ) in Lycia in today's Southwest Turkey. The remains of the building are 4 km upstream from the village Kemer at a point where the gravel -covered river valley of the Xanthos reaches a width of 500 m. From the building only has a 29 m long and 4.5 m wide section which is located on the right bank outside the flood zone and served as a driveway for the actual river bridge has (as of 1978). Architectural history, the bridge is despite widespread destruction by their segmental arches and hollow chambers of importance.
Construction
At the bridge rest still some unusual for the time constructional features can be recognized. The ramp obtained has three arches with a span from 4 to 4.45 m, with two of the arches with a peak height of only one meter have a very low profile. Such segmental arches are known only by a limited number of Roman bridges and found only in late medieval bridge Ponte Vecchio with the general application. The third arc, however, has the classic Roman semi-circular shape in which the ratio of span -to-peak height of 2 to 1.
The arches have been bricked up with locally beaten limestone blocks and mortar joint while the bridge body cast mortar masonry consists of rubble which is exposed now in many places of the strongly contested Siding. The mortar is made of hard lime mixed with fine gravel. The paving of the road has completely disappeared; the uniform slope of the bridge ramp can but at least suggest that the ancient pavement of the present-day surface rested directly.
Another design feature of the Kemerbrücke addition to its arch construction, the hollow chamber above the yoke of the third arc dar. Here the 2 m high bridge body between arch apex and the road was not solid brick, but inside it a vaulted cavity of 3.5 m length, 3, 2 m wide and 1.5 m height spared. The purpose of the cavity structure has been to reduce the load on the end of the sheet weight and to save a building material. A second, smaller inner chamber was next placed in the upper area of the third pillar. Similar hollow chamber systems could be detected at least three other Roman bridges in Asia Minor ( in Makestosbrücke, the White Bridge and in particular the Aesepus Bridge ).
Circular ducts with a diameter of about 26 cm, go through the entire bridge length and width, are interpreted as hollow shapes of round logs of Roman construction and falsework. The fourth pillar, which is the river bed the next, has a small bridge eye, which served as a water passage. Although the stand stayed bridge ramp allows no conclusion on the nature and number of the arched openings of the actual bridge over the river, the ancient construction must have been a pretty impressive engineering structure in the face of 500 m river bed width and a present height of about 8 m above the alluvial debris.
An example of a resulting segmental arch bridge in Lycia represents the 28- bögige Limyra Bridge, which was also investigated by Wolfgang Wurster and Joachim Ganzert.
Dating
A possible starting point for the dating of Kemer Bridge provides the existence of a Roman road link, which is occupied for the beginning of the 3rd century AD in the area. Accordingly, the bridge could have been part of coming out of the east path from Kadyanda ( Uzumlu ), which led down above the bridge in the Xanthos valley. Perhaps was the Kemerbrücke also with the pass trail after Oinoanda in conjunction.
Gallery
- Seen from the river bridge stump
- View from the west
- Hollow chamber below the roadway
- Second segment arc