Building a road
When the Romans built roads they used great
accuracy. When they made roads they made sure that it
was pointing in the right direction so that it was as
straight as possible. They did that by using two sticks
which had weights hanging from each side. The person making
sure that it was straight they aligned the weights so
that they could not see the others as it was covered by
the others. This meant that it was straight. after that
to make a road they built a road they dug a hole that
was 1 meter deep. They then put large stones and then
smaller stones. They then put a layer of pebbles and then
sand to make it smooth. When they had finished they put
stone slabs that were flat and the right size. When they
got to a river they took some boats and attached them
together. When this was finished they built the next bridge
in that area. To build the bridge they pushed wooden logs
to keep the water out while they built it. they blocked
the holes with silt that stuck. When they had done that
they pumped the water out. When they had done that they
started to put a layer of bitumen and then stones and
they continued until it was the right height. When they
have done that they put the road on the foundations. When
they make the road they then make the middle higher so
that when there is rain water it gets drained to the side.
An aqueduct is a channel built
by man to bring water from one place to the other. They
used it to bring water from a stream to a bath house or
other buildings. They had to make sure that everything
was straight. To do this they used levelling equipment
to make it level so that it flows to the destination.
This was hard because they needed to make special equipment
to be able to do that. The equipment they used was chorobats.
To use these instruments you made sure that the water
in the middle was straight and level. They measure the
distance from the ground level to the imaginary level
that the aqueduct was supposed to be at. They did this
at every 1 meter 20 centimetres. They made sure that it
was to high for people to poison or steal some of the
water. To support the weight of the pillars they had to
make some big foundations so that it would not sink. They
used cement and stones to do it with. When they got to
a hill they drilled through it. they build a shaft every
20 meters and when they did that they measured the height
to make sure that it was at the right level. While they
dug through the hills they placed the stones while they
were making it.
When it arrived to the city the
aqueduct went into a water tank. Every water tank was covered by a
cement vault. They then made some wood supports which were curved.
They then placed bricks in an arc. When they did that they put
cement to make it solid. When this was done and it held the roof
they then removed the wood supports. They then put pipes so that the
water could be taken to where they wanted it. They then covered the
roof of the container with tiles and sloping roof so that it looked
nicer.
The Romans used the same type of tools as
the workers use now. When they wanted to pull heavy weights
up they used something similar to a crane but it was in
wood and powered by a man walking in a wheel to make the
objects go up. When they built things they used the same
tools but they also had a levelling table and things like
that to make sure the aqueduct or the roads. The tools
still have not been changed.
