ICQHS - Qanat equipment

» Inauguration of the water museum coincided with the international symposium on Qanat in Yazd [May2000] brought about a situation in which qanat digging equipment could exhibit our cultural legacy partially to remind every individual of the diligence and sustainability of the people once lived here.

History Of Qanat

» Henry Gubler believes that around 800 BC. coal miners in north eastern Iran improvised some canals in order to extract the water from the coal mines. The technology was gradually applied by farmers and spread all over the plateau of Iran. About 525 BC. it reached Oman and Saudi Arabia by Iranians and Persian campaigns conveyed this technology through Egypt about 500 BC.
Qanat was introduced to Africans by Muslims and Yafuga (a Qanat) was created in Madrid by Muslims about 750 BC. The Spanish initiated qanats in Mexico in 1520 AD. From there, it was taken to Los Angeles in 1520 AD. This Hydraulic system was spotted in Chile , too. Creation of qanats in Asia enjoys great antiquity as well.

Qanat equipment

The most important means pertaining to qanat digging procedure is the persian wheel which is applied when digging, soil extracting or dredging. Wheels are obviously primitive devices but technically they are very complicated. Wheels were made of wood in the past but the present ones enjoy metal axis.

Ropes:
Quality and weight of a rope is crucial in soil extraction and well diggers rescue in emergency cases. The deeper the well is the stronger the rope should be. For instance, a three hundred meter well needs a rope of 150 kg. which is much heavier than the soil bucket it carries up.

Picks and shovels

These two tools are of the most important equipment concerning digging qanats. The shovels are not changed but the Picks vary due to the texture of the soil. Bigger ones are applied for hard crust layers. In some cases, they even have to use chisel and sledgehammer. To fill buckets with soil inside the gallery they sometimes use a curved shovel having a shorter handle.

Bucket:
This container is locally named Dool in Yazd and Gonabad. It is made of rubber with a metal handle for soil extraction attached to the rope of a wheel. Bigger buckets which are made of truck tyre are used for a great deal of soil pulled up by dynamos but not wheels. Ancient buckets were made of tanned goat or cows skin or old leather bags. The mouth of the bucket was sewn round a pomegranate circular twig coil named Chanbar-e and a rope handle. So, the buckets enjoyed a wide mouth, they were lighter than rubber ones and pulling them across the gallery was easier.

Illumination

Since the qanat galleries are dark, illumination is of a vital role. So, the ancient practitioners used pear-like fat burners