Selected Ancient Stone Bridges with Corbelled False-Arch Structure

Abstract

Abstract The oldest man-made false-arch stone bridges are presented and briefly described. It is shown that this construction technique was based on the experiences of the first builders, formed at the junction of ancient Egyptian, Mycenaean as well as Assyrian and Babylonian cultures. Arches in such bridges have not yet been constructed in a classical manner, i.e. one that was later prevalent by the Romans, but these were only the primitive arch-like structures, with a false needle vault, that were shaped mainly by corbelling. This type of the structure, if it was used in bridges, turned out to be much more stable than the well-known at that time and commonly used in gateway passages oval “true-arch” built from sun-dried mud bricks.