Among all the mills in Lebanon, and these exceed 500, there are six sub-types of the horizontal water-wheel mill. Chebaa alone has two of these sub-types: one that treats dry grains through wath is called a "Mathaneh" and another that has a double function that of treating dry grains and extracting oil from olive residue through wath is called "Matruf".
Information resulting from a field survey indicate that Chebaa mills are about 500 years old but the technical analysis and comparison allows us to suppose that the mills are actually much older than this especially that Chebaa's sub-type proved to be the most primitive among all of Lebanon's mills.
Water-mills were core to social interaction as they were a meeting place for men and women and different communities from different backgrounds and villages.
