Virtual reconstruction and kinematic simulation of a marble sawmill through the integration of historical and archeological data

Abstract

One of the greatest difficulties researchers encounter when attempting to comprehensively recover the technological heritage of the past lies in the fact that many components (machines, tools, etc.) were fully or partially made with ephemeral materials (such as wood). For this reason, in this work, we use virtual reality tools based on 3D models and the kinematic simulation of mechanisms and machines in order to integrate information from archeological remains and information obtained from written records during research on the recovery of the technological heritage of the past. In order to demonstrate the adequacy and suitability of the proposed method, the buildings and machinery of the Fallen Mill at El Escorial (Spain) have been virtually reconstructed as a case study. This one consisted of two mills, one flour mill and one marble sawmill, and was built at the end of the sixteenth century but, following a long period of abandonment, only scarce physical remains exist today. The Fallen Mill was highly important to the construction of the Monastery of El Escorial as, on the one hand, it was the first flour mill at the Monastery and, on the other hand, the marble sawmill which made it possible to reduce the time expected for the construction of the high altarpiece in the Monastery’s Basilica by half. The virtual reconstruction enabled an integrated compression of the architecture and technique used for both mills, providing users and researchers with an interactive environment for analysis, the discussion of alternatives, and detailed knowledge of this valuable technological heritage. With this and following centuries of abandonment, the Fallen Mill can be recovered for European technological heritage and makes clear the archeological importance of the existing physical remains of both mills.