Yes, the Romans invented the water mill, which was an early equivalent of the steam engine, at an early date, but they failed to develop their discovery to any extent, probably because they had slaves to do the heavy lifting and such things as grinding grain for bread.
So, basically, the water mill was developed in the Middle Ages, starting in the monasteries and spreading from there. Modern science and engineering mostly began in the Middle Ages, with the water mill, the plow harness and the deep plow, the saddle, and other discoveries essential to modern civilization.
See Lynn Thorndike’s books, especially the first two volumes of “A History of Magic and Experimental Science” (8 vol., 1923–58).
After The Plague reduced the number of people available for common labor perchance?
Failed to develop their discovery?
You did see that this particular complex was more like a modern factory complex?. It was huge with 16 water driven mills stretching down a cliff with all working off the water supplied by a twin aqueduct system going into a channel,
As far as I know, there was never anything quite like this installation built in Europe after the Roman era.
There is a great TV series on one of the History cable channels on this called Ancient Impossible. This is only one of the technological marvels that it covers.