# Wood Utilization in Windmill Mechanisms on Sikinos Island (Greece)
## 1 Introduction
Windmills in some areas have already been studied, such as those in the province of ancient Halicarnassus in Turkey [8], Iran [10], Castile of Spain [11] and Scotland [12]. In general, differences have been detected between those in the East and the West, with the East windmills mainly bearing horizontal windmill wing frames (\"fteroti\") which rotate horizontally on the top of the building, and the West ones bearing vertical rigid windmill wing frames, rotating vertically on the side of the building. In windmills in the Mediterranean area, there was an interesting fusion of Eastern and Western features, with a dominant form that included a vertical flexible windmill sail frame and rotating roof, a construction that probably evolved and became standardized over the centuries [8]. In Greece, windmills were located mainly on islands, since they required a constant supply of wind energy [3; 13], even though the rest of Greece was quite familiar with these conditions as well [14]. Although a few horizontal windmills have also been found (Karpathos), vertical ones with a rotating roof dominated, while fixed ones that operated with a single wind direction were rare and limited mainly to Crete and Karpathos [15]. The moving part of the windmill (mechanism) was traditionally made of wood [16] and was the most important part. In general, it consisted of a horizontal beam (Figure 1), which carried the system for converting the force of the wind into motion on the outside and a large wooden wheel on the inside, the rotary motion of which set the millstone system in motion. The turning mechanism allowed to simply and manually change the position of the above system, so that the mill worked with all wind directions [2]. In general, the mechanism construction was based on the raw materials available in the area [14], as well as on those that could be imported. This especially concerned places where the local timber amount was not adequate, mainly for the construction of the windshaft, wooden ring located at the top of the windmill on which the roof rotated and the wallower, where wood imported from Mount Athos or Asia Minor were used [3], or wherever else it was available. For example, in Karpathos, \"Tsikoudia\" (_Pistacia treebinthus_) was imported from the island of Tilos in the Dodecanese area [15]. The wooden mechanism of the windmill, as well as the wooden mechanisms of water and oil mills, are complex examples of mechanisms of the pre-industrial era [2,5], and therefore monuments of technological cultural heritage [17] that gradually disappear or have already disappeared, both due to abandonment and looting for other uses [14]. Wood mechanism was replaced with mechanisms made of other materials in the case of water mills [18] and oil mills [2,19]. In the current study, a thorough examination of the Sikinos island windmills and their mechanisms is carried out, aiming to highlight the way of thinking and action of windmill manufacturers of that pre-industrial era (and therefore, of other wooden structures of that time), as well as the use of tools, manufacturers know-how and potential deep knowledge of different wood species properties and behavior.