Reste einer römischen Gesteinsmühle bei Mertesdorf

Remains of a Roman rock mill near Mertesdorf
Karlsmuehle near Mertesdorf

In the year 371 AD, the Roman writer Ausonius, who served as the educator of the young Emperor's son Gratian at the imperial court of Roman Trier, wrote the prize poem "Mosella". In it, he reports among other things about the Ruwer: "The Ruwer spins in dizzying whirlwinds the grain-grinding stones and pulls the screaming saws through smooth marble blocks." Therefore, during Roman times, there must have been not only grain mills but also rock mills in the Ruwer valley.
It is known that in the monumental buildings of Roman Trier, marble, diabase, and large quantities of sawn shell limestone slabs were used. The marble was imported in large blocks from the south and would have been cut to meet the construction needs as close to the city as possible. Diabase, commonly known as greenstone, was found in the Grüneberg, which borders the lower Ruwer valley to the west. It likely got its name because of this.
So far, remains of a Roman mill have only been found in the Ruwer valley at the Karlsmühle. In the middle of the last century, Trier archaeologists discovered noticeably large blocks of shell limestone in the drainage ditch of the Karlsmühle, which is completely foreign to the Ruwer valley. Additionally, two Roman foundation walls still intersect this mill ditch today, about 20 meters from the current mill. During canal construction through the Ruwer meadows in 1967, a large quantity of Roman roof and wall tiles was found, along with part of a Roman floor. The most interesting find was made here in 1843 when remains of a Roman tomb were discovered at the mouth of the drainage ditch into the Ruwer. This shows a relief depicting a bust of a man and a woman shaking hands. Above it, the relief was bordered by a capstone, in which a millstone going through an axis was carved. This tombstone is now kept in the Landesmuseum Trier. A copy of the centerpiece is located in the Karlsmühle. This gravestone could depict the owner of the Roman mill.
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